Breathe
by browneyedgirl29
Summary: "Statistical Impossiblities" #1: Bones and Jim befriend a pair of cadets at the Academy, only to discover one has an unknown lung condition that threatens to take her life, while the other has a talent for getting herself involved in intergalactic conspiracies. Set a year and a half before events of first movie. Slight Bones/OC romance. Jim/OC friendship. Currently being edited.
1. A Sense of Purpose

**Hello, followers of Breathe! I've been going back and editing it to make it a bit more canon. I should be replacing the chapters fairly regularly. The basic events will not change, but some little details will be changed. Also, a bit more explanation of the girls' backgrounds will be given - especially Camille being in the military, what with MACO being disbanded and all. Hope it makes more sense this time around!**

 **I own nothing.**

* * *

The shuttle ride hadn't been too bad. A little bumpy, but nothing she couldn't handle. Besides, Camille Osbourne had been told she was born to fly.

At least, that's what Dad had said when she'd leapt from the second floor of their burning apartment building in New York at eight. That was ten years ago, and she was still a tad bit accident prone. Okay, very accident prone. She'd never felt anything but safe in the air, though. It was the landing that was the problem.

This wasn't even her final stop. She'd spend a night in a motel before boarding the second shuttle to the Academy. Heck of a place to drop new cadets. Who'd ever heard of Riverside, Iowa, anyway?

On her way to the motel, she passed by a bar. Looked like the one place that saw any action in this town. Camille had only recently hit eighteen, the legal drinking age. Unlike most of her friends, she hadn't celebrated by getting hammered at every joint in New York. She'd been at West Point, admitted early because of her father's MACO achievements.

Camille contemplated MACO's final disbanding. The official one had been about a hundred years ago, of course, but one more conservative faction had held on in New York. They'd chosen as their headquarters West Point, the most famous military base in American history. And, for the past few years, that had been her home, for good or for ill. Mostly ill.

Just the thought of West Point made her lip curl. Military life was definitely not for her. And the Federation had made any of the countries on United Earth's surface moderately obsolete, along with all of their antiquated traditions. Still, Camille understood that it had been hard for the long-time military families, rather like her own, to let go of the fact that they weren't necessarily needed anymore.

Her own father, General Conrad Osbourne, had been personally asked to join Starfleet, but he'd refused fairly adamantly. Camille had been ten then, and that was something she had had drilled into her: Tradition was better to stick by for families like hers. Better to leave the exploring to those who hadn't been in the American military and then MACO after for generations.

Come to think of it, Dad hadn't specifically said that, but she'd always known he didn't quite approve of Starfleet. Even when she'd finally summoned her courage to tell him she was going, he'd reacted much better than she'd expected. The smile on his face was obviously pasted on, but he'd risen from the chair where he was sitting and said, "I'm happy for you, Cam. You're doing what you have to do."

She knew he was disappointed that MACO was not for her. But she needed this, needed to feel as though she were needed, relevant in the universe at large, for as long as she had left. And Starfleet could do that for her when MACO couldn't.

The blinking lights drew her attention back to the bar. Some townie was getting a pretty solid beating by a group of cadets who had probably been here a few days longer than her. An older man coming her way paused and stopped at the window. A frown darkened his forehead and he entered. He'd paused just long enough for Camille to catch the Starfleet insignia on his uniform. A captain, probably.

She decided to move on to the hotel before the others got kicked out – and so she wouldn't have to see the idiot on the floor drooling any longer.

* * *

Small as it was, Riverside, Iowa, was a big step from Our Lady of Perpetual Sorrow Abbey in Vermont. Karina Bartowski muttered under her breath, "Verdammt." Then she smiled to herself. Sister Rebecca would never gasp in shock and cross herself at Karina's prolific language in German any longer.

Fourteen was a bit young to be admitted to the academy, but the nuns were at their wits end with her. Karina wasn't a difficult child, necessarily, just eager to leave the abbey. She'd been fascinated with the world outside, a world she'd never been allowed to be a part of. With her ability to talk her way out of anything – in fact, to talk in general – Mother Abbess had feared she would become a lawyer, or worse, a politician. So when they had discovered that she had secretly been learning twenty languages, including alien dialects, they had elected to send her to Starfleet and see if she might do some good in the world.

Karina didn't necessarily think she would have made a good lawyer, or a good politician. Both jobs required a certain hardness, a quality she did not possess. Her goal was to stay soft in a rough world. It wasn't an easy job, but it was the one thing she had remembered her mother saying before the car accident that had killed both her parents. She figured she owed it to Mom to keep that up, no matter what happened to her in life.

And as for the nuns, she didn't really blame them for not really nurturing her like some people would say they should have. After all, their cloistered life was just barely hanging on by a thread in this world. As was any form of religion. They had a lot on their minds, being a "beacon of light in an ever darkening world."

Karina might have bought that more if they ever left the abbey, but then again, what did she know about such things? At least, that was what they'd told her any time she'd precociously decided to bring it up.

She dragged her bag onto the lift. The only other soul was an older girl, who gave her an appraising look.

"You a recruit?" she asked.

"Yeah. Are you?" Karina thought the other girl looked more the part, certainly.

She nodded. "Camille. Camille Osbourne."

The name rang a bell. Karina tilted her head to one side before realizing. "We're roommates!"

Camille's expression mirrored her own a moment before. "Karina?"

"Yeah! I never expected to meet you before we even got to the academy!"

Camille smiled. "I know, right?" The pair of them lapsed into an awkward silence. Karina could feel Camille looking her up and down again. She found the stare slightly intimidating, but was determined not to squirm. She was pretty sure she knew what Camille was thinking.

"Fourteen," she muttered.

Camille was caught off guard. "Pardon me?"

"That's how old I am. In case you were wondering," Karina replied.

Camille shook her head. "Actually no. I didn't even think about that."

"Really?"

"Why would I?"

"You don't think I'm a little young for Starfleet?"

"Well, maybe. But if you can make it, who am I to judge? I'm eighteen. That's about five years younger than most recruits."

"Yeah, and I'm at nine years younger."

"Hey, I really could care less how young you are. You won't catch any flack from me," Camille told her. "If their entrance exams are so difficult most don't pass them until they're twenty-three, you're nothing short of impressive."

An awkward silence passed again. Karina cleared her throat. "So, what floor are you on?"

"This one. We've been standing here for the past two minutes," Camille replied.

Karina blinked, staring at the open button. "Oh. Right."

Camille laughed. "Relax, kid. I don't bite." She thought for a second. "And I will probably call you 'kid' a lot. And 'child.' But that's just the way I interact with people. I'm not demeaning you or anything." She stepped off the lift. "You coming or what?"

Karina nodded. "Yeah. Yeah, definitely."

* * *

Camille could hardly believe her eyes. The idiot who she'd seen get his butt handed to him the night before was on this shuttle? How?

Karina looked nervous. Camille glanced over at her. "You afraid of flying or something?"

Karina shrugged. "More or less. I hadn't flown before the ride from Vermont to here, so…"

Camille squeezed her hand. "Hey, don't worry. We'll be fine. I was born to fly, you know."

Karina smirked. "Sounds like there was a story behind that."

Camille shrugged and opened her mouth to tell it, but her attention was diverted by a commotion at the front of the shuttle.

"You need a doctor! Sir, you need a doctor."

"I don't need a doctor, dammit! I am a doctor!"

"Sir, you need to have a seat!"

"I had one, in the bathroom, with no windows! I suffer from aviaphobia. It means fear of dying in something that flies."

"Sir, for your own safety, sit down or I'll make you sit down!"

Needless to say, the man sat down. Right next to the poor idiot from last night.

The girls heard him mutter, "I may throw up on ya."

Camille couldn't deny the small thrill of satisfaction as the warning made the other man look sufficiently uncomfortable. "Yeah, well, I think these things are pretty safe."

"Don't pander to me, kid," the apparent doctor growled. "One crack in the hull and our blood boils in seconds. A solar flare could crop us, cook us in our seats. Oh, and wait'll your sitting pretty with a case of Andorian shingles. See if you're so relaxed while your eyeballs are bleeding. Space is disease, and danger, wrapped in darkness and silence.

She tuned out after that one. Starfleet was the one thing that was going to give the rest of her life some sense of purpose. She wasn't about to listen to someone gripe about the very territory in which it operated. Camille was not easily intimidated, but she doubted her ability to keep herself from turning tail and running if she listened to much more of this.

Camille turned to Karina, who was smiling. "Guess I'm not as afraid of flying as that guy."

Camille frowned. "Who was that paranoid jerk, anyway?"

Karina shrugged. "I don't know. But I like him."


	2. Your Call

Karina had an extensive vocabulary in twenty different languages, including Klingon, French, Swahili, and Russian. But words for Starfleet headquarters escaped her. Huge. Metal. Expansive. Was there anything else, really?

Camille dragged her along. "Come on, kid. We've got to drop our stuff in our room and change into uniforms before the new cadet assembly."

Eventually Camille let go, but Karina was too busy taking in her surroundings to even attempt to keep up. This was unlike anything she'd ever seen. You didn't exactly get this kind of stuff in the forests of Vermont. The real world was turning out to be a lot better than even she'd expected -

Her thoughts were interrupted when she clipped someone's shoulder. Glancing at the person she hit, she saw it was a boy about her age, maybe a little older. It was good to know she wasn't the only kid here.

He didn't look that intimidating, and for some reason she found herself smiling without thinking about it. "Sorry," she said, and hurried to catch up to Camille.

She couldn't see him looking after her for a while, a tiny ghost of a smile on his face, then shake his head and walk away, still smiling.

* * *

Karina hadn't had too long to get to know her roommate, she supposed, but when Camille came limping into their room their first week in, she began to worry whether this would be routine. The other day she'd been favoring her wrist a bit. When asked, Camille had just brushed it off as though it were no big deal. She'd let it go then, but when Karina saw how swollen her ankle was today, however, her eyes widened

"Why are you limping?" Karina asked, thoroughly perplexed. Minus the halting walk, Camille looked perfectly fine, not even in pain.

"I may or may not have tripped down the stairs about five minutes ago," Camille muttered, the strain in her voice giving away what her countenance concealed. She flopped down on her bed, sighing in relief. "It's nothing, really."

Karina raised an eyebrow. "Your ankle is swollen. I don't think that qualifies as nothing, dear."

Camille rolled her eyes. "It'll be fine tomorrow. So how was your day?"

"Oh, relatively boring until my roommate came in with an ankle obviously at least rolled and pretended she's going to just walk it off. Come on, I'm taking you down to the med office."

Camille groaned. "You're seriously going to make me walk again?"

"I could carry you. That's always an option," Karina replied, shrugging. When Camille half-smiled in amusement, Karina felt herself getting riled. "Oh, come on!" she exclaimed. "You're tiny."

"And you have no upper body strength. I could judo throw you in a half second."

"I was raised by nuns. We didn't have a lot of time to lift weights. Most of my time was spent reciting prayers in Latin. Or German. Or in school. Or anywhere. We're getting off the subject."

"Now I know why you hate German," Camille muttered. "I would too if I'd been force-fed it."

"Just shut up and put your arm around my shoulders," Karina said. "I am taking you to the doctor whether you like it or not."

Fortunately, the med office was only a hallway down from their room. Camille winced with every step, finally giving up the façade of being fine. Karina had thought so.

"Excuse me, who's on shift at the moment?" Karina asked the well-muscled, dark-haired man with his back turned to them.

"You're looking at him," he muttered, and something about his voice sounded familiar. Camille's eyes widened when he turned around. The paranoid one from the shuttle in Riverside? Oh, come on! Was she going to catch a break today?

"Don't look so enthusiastic," he muttered. "I don't bite, girl."

The term bit at her for some reason, and she forced herself to look him directly in the eyes, not focus on the fact that he looked a lot better and a lot less like a crazed mountain man without the scruffy beard he'd sported a week before.

"Help her onto the table," he instructed Karina.

Camille, not to be outdone, disentangled herself and pulled herself up on her own.

"All right, then," he said, his face establishing that he'd received her message loud and clear: she was not going to be an easy patient.

Karina sat back, a smirk on her face. This should be an interesting show.

He felt her ankle up. At least that was how it felt to her. Why should he need that much of a feel on it? Clearly the man was some kind of creep. Camille's glare deepened. Karina's smirk turned to silent giggling.

The doctor remained oblivious. He did frown, however. "What did you do to this, exactly?"

"I…" Camille bit back her answer, then finally gave in. "Fell off some equipment."

"What were you doing on the equipment?" the doctor asked, at the same time Karina exclaimed, "I thought you said you fell down the stairs."

"Does it matter what I was doing?" Camille exploded, wishing they would both just leave well enough alone. "The point is, my ankle is fine. My roommate, however, was slightly concerned about my well-being. May I go now?"

The doctor sighed, rolled his eyes and handed her a clipboard screen. "Fill this form out. Consider yourself a patient of Starfleet. Congratulations."

Camille frowned down at the screen, wishing she had never decided she needed an adrenaline rush and climbed up on that stair banister – no way was she telling them that was the actual story. "So, what's your verdict on my ankle…Dr. McCoy?"

"It just so happens your ankle has a fairly bad sprain, Miss Osbourne," McCoy retorted, appearing as though he hadn't glanced down at her newly scrawled name on the paper. Jerk.

Karina's laughter was barely under wraps now. Unfortunately, her roommate was too focused on her new nemesis to pay much attention. She cleared her throat.

"Excuse me, doctor, I need to…" Unable to think of a suitable excuse, she muttered, "…take care of something for one of my classes. Take care of her, will you?"

McCoy nodded at her. She practically stumbled out of the room, and he turned back to Camille. "Now, I can give you a osteoregenerator treatment, or – "

"I don't have time for this, and my ankle is _fine_ ," Camille insisted through gritted teeth.

" _Or_ I can give you a pair of crutches and we can do this the old-fashioned way," McCoy continued, looking as though he wanted to get this over with just as much as she did. "Your call, Osbourne."

* * *

Jim Kirk was on his way past the clinic when he heard a very familiar voice shouting, "Dammit, girl, your ankle has to heal! You at least need crutches to get back to your – "

"I can make it fine on my own!" came a defiant feminine voice. "I don't need your lousy – "

"Do you want to walk normally again?"

"Walk normal – I'll be walking just fine in a week! You literally just said – "

"You were too busy storming out of here to pay attention to a word I was saying! You know, people like you are the reason the human race's life expectancy is lowering. Of course, in space, it'll be a lot shorter if you continue like this!"

Jim peeked in the window. A petite girl of around eighteen was standing next to the table, leaning on it, attempting to get at the door, which Bones was blocking. At his last comment, her jaw dropped.

"Well _excuse_ me if I'm not a big fan of doctors. I've been to too many who aren't worth what they make me pay – "

"Oh, great. You'll be around more often then?" Bones muttered. "Lucky me."

She emitted a cry that was somewhere between a human scream and an ostrich screech. Only then did Jim notice the other girl practically on the floor laughing outside. He turned to her.

"That one yours?"

She straightened up and looked back at him, tears streaming down her face. "In a way."

The kid was around fourteen. What the heck was she doing at Starfleet? She turned toward the door, waiting. "Give it five…four…three…"

The older girl stumped out on a pair of crutches that were too tall for her five-foot-one frame. She looked at him, glared, then turned to her friend. "Happy?"

"I'm at least satisfied. And my heart got a good workout just there."

"Oh, shush."

The pair of them walked off down the hallway. Jim smiled, shaking his head, and knocked on the clinic door.

"Anyone home?"

Bones looked up, glaring. "What the hell are you doing here? Don't you have a date or something?"

"Date? Nah. She caught me…"

Bones raised his eyebrows.

"Kissing another cadet."

"Really? Isn't this the fifth one? We've been here a week!"

"Jim Kirk gets around."

"Well, maybe Jim Kirk should consider focusing on something else. Like, I don't know, take the Kobayshi-Maru. Nobody's passed that. It should give you a challenge, at least. Now, back to my first question. What are you doing here, Jim?"

"I was just in the neighborhood and couldn't help noticing a scuffle going on. That one was pretty feisty, wasn't she?"

Bones shook his head, his frown deepening. "You don't know the half of it. That was by far the most stubborn, hard-headed, arrogant patient I've ever had."

"She wasn't bad-looking either," Jim muttered.

"What?"

"I didn't say anything."

"Oh, no," Bones said, glaring at him. "You aren't sucking me into your web of woman after woman after woman. I've had enough of – "

He stopped short and turned back to his work. Jim gave him a thoughtful look.

"Enough of what?"

"Nothing. If you're here, you might as well be useful. Hand me that metal thing."

"What metal – "Jim, who had been looking at all the medical tools and thinking the request a bit vague, saw the metal thing which Bones had been referring to on the floor. "Did she -?"

"Break the handle off the table? Yes, yes, she did. Call me crazy and all, but I think that one's a bit accident-prone."

Jim handed him the handle, sneaking a glance at the paper in his hand. "Huh. Camille Osbourne, the hot accident-prone cadet. Wonder who her friend was?"

Bones whirled. "You do know she's probably at least ten years younger than you?"

"Come on, Bones! You don't seriously think I'd go for a fourteen-year-old? Or somewhere around there."

"I'm not quite sure what I think you'd go for yet, Jim. Seems like you'd go for anything."

"And you're clearly going for nothing."

"Dammit, man, I'm a doctor. I don't have time for this!" He paused, remembering the way her arrogant little chin stuck out when she was refusing to do as he said.. "And if I did, why would I choose someone that infuriating?"


	3. He Cleans Up Good

**So, this one was a bit of an adventure to edit. For those of you wondering what it is, exactly, that I've edited, I'm mostly going back and giving a bit more description at this point and tweaking some things that didn't fit in the Star Trek universe. Hope you're enjoying it! (Oh, also, in case you didn't notice, I'm giving the chapters names. Fun fact.)**

 **Hope you're enjoying this one!**

* * *

"So, was it just me, or was Doctor McCoy the one from the shuttle?" Karina asked as the door slid shut behind her. Giving Camille a very indicative look, she added, "He cleans up well."

"He's too old for you, kid," Camille muttered, tossing her crutches aside and falling on her bed. What she wouldn't give to have a do-over for the day.

Karina's eyes widened. "That was _not_ what I meant! I was just commenting."

"News flash, abbey-girl, that doesn't qualify as just commenting. That definitely means you find a person attractive," Camille said, knowing that Karina was probably not taking the teasing well, but wanting to turn the conversation away from herself.

"Ew," Karina said, grimacing. "I'd be a bit of a… reverse cradle-robber, wouldn't I? If it was the case. Which it isn't."

Camille laughed, relenting. "Okay, I can tell you aren't lying. And good. Because while he may clean up good, still doesn't change the fact that he's just as much of a paranoid jerk as he was before."

"Hmm," Karina mused, not quite as ready to surrender the point. "Seemed perfectly sane to me. He just didn't quite know what to do with you." She plopped down on the side of her own bed, leaning forward, elbows on knees. The serious look on her face belied the mirth sparkling in her eyes.

"Oh. My. Word." Camille rolled over so she didn't have to see that devilish twinkle, then winced at the pain in her ankle. "You know what? I am not having this conversation. I'm…studying. That's what I'm doing."

"Sure. Of course you are."

"I'm serious. Only a week in and we already have an exam on Monday!"

"We had one the first day," Karina muttered, trying and failing to be nonchalant about it.

Camille sat up quickly. " _Ow_. Wait. Are you serious?"

"Yep."

"How the heck are you so _calm_ , kid? Do you know what you got?"

"Nope," Karina replied, now pretending to flick lint off of her skirt. Camille rolled her eyes. She could see through this façade a mile away.

"Once again, I repeat: How are you not going out of your mind right now?"

"Why would I be? That was the easiest exam I've ever taken. It was just on Earth languages. Just seeing if we could master the dialects. I knew most of the languages."

Okay, the kid was good, Camille would give her that. She could be a convincing little actress one day. However, Camille was slightly better. Concealing her emotions might be a breeze for Karina, but so was reading people for Camille.

"How many were there?" she prodded, just grateful for something to bug Karina about – and a switch of topic from Dr. McCoy.

"Oh…twenty-five."

Camille's jaw dropped for the second time that day, this time in awe. "You are crazy, do you know that?"

"I've been told before. Sister Agatha was a particularly grumpy nun who did not understand children. Don't ask me what she was doing at the abbey, since it was specifically set aside as an orphanage. She was the only one who knew about my obsession with language and informed me that the only ones it was necessary for me to learn were Latin, German, and English." The last sentence was uttered with a great deal of contempt. Half of her mouth tipped up. "Of course, that was when I started muttering random things under my breath around her in different tongues. Just to see what she would say. I never knew the words 'Adios, amigos,' could drive a woman crazy."

Camille's laughter filled the room. She hadn't gotten Karina to admit that she was actually more nervous than she let on, but that was okay. This was an interesting change of topic, anyway. "So, what's your favorite language?"

Karina paused, giving her a scandalized look. "You do know you basically just asked me to pick my favorite child?"

"Go on, then."

After a moment of contemplation, she muttered, "I think I have three."

"Three? Okay, shoot."

"Well, I do like Romulan for alien languages. I don't know why. There's something too choppy about Klingon and half of the Orion language has to do with sex, and those are the only three alien languages I know. But I'll learn more, of course.

"Obscurity wise? I love Swahili, but I haven't had a single situation in which I could use it. It just has absolutely no connection to any other language. Such…uniqueness." She sighed. Camille attempted to reconcile this love of language with how she would feel about a new development in the flamethrower.

"And for the third?"

Karina blinked, as if coming out of a trance. "Oh, yeah. I'm going to have to go with Russian. There's something kind of beautiful about it… I don't know."

"Not German?" Camille asked, smirking.

Karina's face darkened. "No. _Heck_ no."

* * *

Karina had downplayed her nervousness. In truth, she was actually concerned about the exam. When she had told Camille that it was the easiest exam she'd ever taken, she hadn't mentioned it was the _only_ exam she'd ever taken….that involved anything other than German or Latin. Though the pair of them had grown closer over the past week, she still found Camille just slightly intimidating. So she'd put up a front, tried to write it off as not a big deal.

But Monday had come, and the score was up…

Attempting to steady her breathing, Karina strode up to the score sheet and let out a sigh of relief. Next to her ID number, second from the top, was a 97.5. Out of 100, not that bad. It was definitely better than she'd expected.

Checking the score of the one above her, she was shocked to find a 99.5. Dang. Someone here was really stinking good at linguistics. Then again, most of the cadets here were at least five years older than her. She would get there in time.

Wouldn't she?

Karina took her seat. The instructor, a stern man of about fifty, nailed them with a stare that would have struck terror into the hearts of most hardened Starfleet officers.

"Most of you did fairly well," he began. "In fact, even for a first exam, I was impressed. However, only two scored in the nineties range – "

Karina breathed another sigh of relief. At least she'd far outscored most of the class. Wait, was he still talking?

" – and when you're translating an urgent message from a Klingon bird of prey about to destroy your star ship, 85 percent accurate is never going to cut it. The difference between 'fire' and 'shields' could be the difference between life and death." His brow raised. "And trust me. In Klingon, they are _extremely_ similar."

Klingon had never been her favorite language. Too choppy. And honestly, too much like German. She hoped she didn't have to utilize that one any more than necessary, but knowing the interactions the Federation tended to have with the Klingons, she didn't think the odds of her getting out of that one were very high.

"So today we will begin our intensive work on xenolinguistics," the instructor, whose name Karina recalled was Captain Stark, informed them. "By the end of this year, your tongues will be so talented you'll be able to do tricks with them."

One of the male cadets snickered. Captain Stark, who was walking past his table at the time, smacked him on the back of the head with his book, then slammed it down on the table in front of him.

"And yes, I mean dialect. So pull your minds out of your rears. Especially you, Petrovsky. This isn't preschool."

Karina thumbed through the book in front of her. She found it odd, how of all the planets, Earth was the only one with multiple languages, that they knew of and had regular contact with. Maybe it had something to do with the other planet's cultures? She'd spent so much time studying the languages, she'd never considered how the people lived. Maybe she could –

"Cadet Bartowski!"

Her head snapped up. Stark was standing in front of her.

"I know the back of Uhura's head is fascinating, but maybe you could tell me less about that and more about the multiple dialects of the Southern African States?"

Karina cleared her throat. "Yes, sir."

* * *

Camille made her way back to the room, utterly exhausted. They'd spent the day testing out the prototype for the new weapons system. To say it hadn't gone well was a bit of an understatement. She'd nearly been scorched to death when the thing had accidentally backfired.

Captain Richards had merely wiped his brow, shook his head, and helped her to her feet.

"You're a bit of a walking disaster, aren't you, Osbourne?"

She'd nodded. "That's a pretty accurate descriptor, sir. In fact, I might go so far as to call it an understatement."

Did Camille admit it? Yes. Was she happy about the fact? Not at all.

She couldn't understand it. She wasn't necessarily clumsy. She wasn't awkward. She just got into scrapes on a frequent basis.

At least the fire had missed her entirely this time, because no way was she going back to that –

"What the hell are you doing walking around without your crutches? And when are you coming back in for that realignment? I repeat, do you ever want to walk normally again?"

She whirled. Speak of the devil, there was McCoy, a glare that could melt every remaining glacier leveled at her. Well, she wasn't easily intimidated, and this man was no exception. Camille stood taller, utilizing every inch of her five foot one frame. She still didn't come close to looking him directly in the eye without craning her neck, but she certainly felt better this way.

"My ankle was fine this morning. And last I checked, treatment is ultimately the patient's decision, _Doctor_ ," she retorted, launching every ounce of contempt she could muster into that last word. Doctor, indeed. He had just the same ego all of them did. Of course, it probably didn't hurt that he was deceptively handsome. That only _added_ to matters, as far as she was concerned. And Karina had a point, he did clean up well, not that the beard had been unattractive, exactly, but -

"Your ankle, while it may feel fine, still has at least a week before you can be on it without assistance. Now, you could find someone to lean on all week, or you could do what I recommended and use your damn crutches!" McCoy, if anything, appeared to mirror her actions and stand taller himself, looking straight down his nose at her.

Well, that brought her off of the dangerous bent her thoughts had taken fairly quickly. She let out a slow, angry breath, attempting to control her anger. The hair that had been previously falling in her face drifted on the resulting breeze. His glare faltered for a brief second, then returned. Before she could respond, the guy who had been waiting outside the clinic door on Friday sauntered up behind McCoy. She recognized him now as the same townie from the bar in Riverside. This day kept getting better and better.

"Lay off the lady, why don't you, Bones?" he said, eyeing her up and down. For some odd reason, she didn't find it offensive. "Jim Kirk. Nice to meet you…Camille?"

The creep had peeked at her paper, no doubt. Suddenly, Camille found herself a bit more offended. She ground her teeth.

"If you insist, I might consider using the crutches tomorrow, Doctor." Hey, it was at least a _bit_ of a compromise.

McCoy shook his head. "You're too stubborn for your own good, girl."

Camille stormed off, around the corner and into the room, hoping that the force with which she stomped through the door would send a signal to it to slam. Maybe then he'd get that she really wanted nothing to do with him.

* * *

Jim snorted. "Whatever. Stubborn? Like you're one to talk, Bones."

"Shut up. You just met me. And why are you calling me Bones, anyway?" McCoy growled, turning and stalking down the hallway.

"Aren't they all you have left?" Jim asked, his mouth tipping up impishly as he tagged along like a lost puppy. "So, Camille's kind of hot when she's being feisty…"

Bones groaned. "Come on, you idiot. I may throw up on you…again."


	4. Adventures In Roommatehood

**Okay, slowly but surely, I'm getting this thing edited. I definitely thought I would have more time over break. I'll be going back to school soon, though, so my time will be less and less. If you happen to come to this in the middle of my editing, I hope you continue reading, in spite of the fact that the last chapters won't be edited quite yet. Thanks so much!**

* * *

Karina looked up from her sprawled position on the bed and Camille tromped in and the door, if it were possible for an automatic one, slammed shut. "Rough day?"

Camille leaned against the still-vibrating door, rubbing her forehead. "You have no idea," she groaned, wishing it would just end already.

Karina shrugged, laying her head back down. "I might."

Camille eyed her friend, and felt her mom-mode kicking into high gear. "Well, I almost died and ran into that insufferable doctor guy again, so if you can top that, I'll be impressed."

The younger girl laughed, shaking her head. "Okay, maybe self-doubt isn't that bad. Let's go with you had a worse day, then."

Camille flopped down on her own bed, sitting far back enough that her legs dangled – which wasn't that far, if she were being honest. "I, however, have no desire to talk about it, so if you want to let anything out, shoot."

Karina sat up at that, giving her a shocked stare. "You almost died and you aren't even going to tell me how it happened?"

Camille sighed and leaned forward conspiratorially. "Promise me you won't haul me down to the doctor?"

"Depends on the manner and lasting effects of the near-death experience."

"Then I ain't talkin', honey."

Karina sighed and threw her hands up in surrender. "Okay, fine, I won't press-gang you into anything. Are you okay with that?"

"Accident with the new weapons system. It wasn't even my fault that time!" Camille protested when Karina gave her what Camille had christened "the look."

"Okay, fine. I'll hush for now. But if you wake up tomorrow in immense amounts of pain, I will drag you down to the clinic, so help me." Now she was trying _her_ hand at the mom-look. As an expert, Camille privately thought that she had a long way to go.

"So what about you?" she asked, eager to turn the conversation away from herself once more. "What happened today?"

Karina lay back down, looked up at the ceiling, and let out a huge breath before her words came tumbling out of her like a waterfall.

"Do you ever feel…not good enough?"

Laying down, Camille rolled over onto her side so she could still see Karina properly. "Sometimes, I suppose. Why?"

Karina paused a moment, trying to find the words. At least that was what she was trying to make it appear she was doing. Camille knew better. She was trying to hold it together.

"So, I got a 97 on the exam. Great, right? But the one person who scored higher than me got an almost perfect score. Who am I kidding? I'm just a kid here. I'll never be as good as the normal recruits. The only reason I'm here is because I'm a child prodigy in language. What'll I do if I have to be a liaison between, I don't know, a Klingon war bird and my captain? They'll never take a kid seriously!" Once again, she gave off the impression of a waterfall as her words tumbled out of her. Her tone also got a lot less controlled and she sounded closer and closer to tears as she went along.

Camille couldn't quite believe what she was hearing. "Okay, I'll stop you right there. Can you _hear_ yourself? You scored _second_ out of that entire class of cadets and you're doubting your skill? You will do just fine, kid. And do you know why? You will have _training_ before you are even close to that situation. Or anything like it, for that matter."

When Karina turned away from her and sighed, Camille raised her eyebrows, though she knew the gesture was lost. She had a feeling they weren't getting to the heart of the matter here. Getting up and turning Karina back, then sitting on the bed next to her, she said, "Come on. What's really going on here?"

Karina bit her lip. "This is really silly," she muttered.

"Well, it's obviously bugging you, and that makes it valid in my book." Camille started stroking Karina's hair, just like her mom would do to her when she was upset. "Tell me."

After another moment of hesitation, Karina finally let it all out with a single breath. "You're really pretty, you know that?"

Camille was taken aback. "Thanks… I think. Is that it?"

Karina's head fell back on the pillow, and she closed her eyes, loathe to admit it. "Okay… So there's a boy…"

Camille gasped. "What? Yes! Tell me everything!"

"I'm getting there. Keep your shirt on," Karina laughed. Good, she was smiling. That was always a start. "Okay, he's a couple years older than me, and he's in xenolinguistics, too. I don't know his name, just that he's from Spain or something."

Camille grinned. "Ooooh, languages girl likes foreign men!" she teased.

Karina shoved her shoulder, her grin widening to mirror Camille's. "Anyway, I don't know. I just feel sort of… Ugh, I don't even know."

Camille figured she knew what was going on here. "Have you…?"

Karina sat up. "How did you know?"

"I'm a girl, too. And when you bunk up with other women for a while, your cycles start to sync. So, considering that mine showed up this morning, I figured it wasn't that hard of a leap. Get up, we're going out. There's gotta be somewhere near here that sells ice cream."

"Wait. Why would I want ice cream?"

Camille whirled to find Karina looking genuinely confused. "Because you're hormonal? Was that not a thing in the abbey?" she asked, gesticulating wildly.

Karina shook her head. "The sisters considered it an unnecessary indulgence, along with practically anything else you've told me about that would be considered fun."

Camille groaned and rubbed her forehead. The headache just kept getting worse the more and more she learned. "Honey, you better bless them that they sent you away. They did you an immense favor."

* * *

Jim scanned the window. Yes, there they were. Bones' future wife and her little friend. A bit of matchmaker scheming was definitely in order here.

"You coming, or what?" Bones called from a few paces away, gesturing for him to hurry up and looking thoroughly irritated.

Jim turned toward him, attempting to appear casual. "You know what, Bones? I changed my mind. I'm feeling ice cream tonight."

Bones eyed him suspiciously, turning around to look at what had apparently caught Jim's attention in the shop window. "There is no way _you_ , of all people, are passing up a few drinks for…" His eyes fell on Camille Osbourne inside, and he paused for a moment, then turned to Jim, his glare cold enough to freeze lava. "Jim. _No_."

* * *

"So, that was remarkably effective," Karina said as they shed their coats and set the bags on the desk.

Camille nodded. "Baskin Robbins does that for a woman in distress. It's why they've stuck around for so long. And," she held up one of the fifteen acquisitions they had made on the way back to the Academy, "Ben and Jerry's works remarkably well, too."

Karina went to help her put the cartons of ice cream away, secretly wondering if Camille expected to need that much before it all got freezer burned. Feeling as though she'd been silly earlier, she winced. "So, about that crazy display just there…"

"Hey, don't worry about it. I understand what it's like to not feel good enough," Camille assured her. "I'm the most accident prone person I know. Trust me, I get it. Sometimes, through no fault of our own, we end up feeling not so adequate for the task before us."

She shut the mini-freezer's door and grabbed Karina by the shoulder before she turned away. "But you have no reason to not feel good enough. So far, you're the second best linguistics cadet, and do you know how many kids there are here at Starfleet? Not many. Sweetheart, you're golden in my opinion. And it's the _second week_. Also, about this mysterious Spanish guy…If he's only a few years older than you, he has limited options. Not that you wouldn't still be a valid choice. You would. But most women are _not_ cougars. And most guys prefer younger girls. I'd say you have a sporting chance."

Karina sat down on her bed and hugged her pillow to her chest, pulling her knees up so they held it there. "Have you ever had a boyfriend? Just curious."

"No. Not really," Camille said this dismissively, but Karina thought she heard something else there…Something sort of like longing. "I've had…things, I guess…with boys, but never a relationship. I guess I figured out I need a man, not a boy. And that's what most of the guys I've encountered are. I'm willing to wait, though."

"Huh," Karina said, thinking on that. Her silence prompted Camille to go ahead with another question.

"So…you're into guys with accents, huh?"

Karina groaned and flopped over on the bed, pulling her pillow over her head. "Cam! Stop!"

"Seriously, though! What should I name this guy until we find out what his name is? Julio? Domingo? Paolo?"

The woman would not let up! Grinning but trying to sound irritated, Karina got up and went to the bathroom to change into pajamas. "Good night, Camille."

Both girls fell asleep that night smiling. For Karina, it wasn't uncommon. She'd fallen asleep smiling ever since she'd come to the Academy. But for Camille, it had been a while.


	5. Secrets Revealed

"All right, cadets, I think we can safely say that our test of the weapons system did not turn out as we had hoped," Captain Richards said, pacing back and forth in front of them in his typical fashion. "So your assignment today is to present me with an idea of how to fix the setup. You may work in partners if you'd like. I'd encourage it, in fact."

Camille went to find Juliet Harper, one of the cadets she'd made a tentative acquaintanceship with in the past week, but was blocked by someone squarely in her path. Looking up nearly a foot, she glared. "You."

"You know, I was expecting maybe a warmer welcome on my first day of class," Kirk said, that annoying smile of his blaring down at her like a neon light."

"What? You're not in this class!" Even as she said it, Camille felt the trickle of doubt creep up into her confident tone. There was no way, not at this point… Surely they were too far in to transfer?"

"Of course, I am," Kirk brushed her accusation off like he was swatting a fly. "I switched. Command track requires us to take a bit of each area, and I didn't have a weapons course yet. So here I am. And you are the only person I know, so, how's it going, partner?"

Camille took a deep breath before responding. "Sorry. I think I'll work alone." Mustering the most dignity she could, she flounced over to the nearest table and began working. Not to be deterred, however, Kirk pulled out the chair next to her and had a seat. Just as though he'd been invited. The tool.

"Oh, come on, I'm new. I'm at least a week behind the rest of you." He made what she was sure he thought were convincing puppy eyes at her. "You wouldn't leave a poor innocent newbie like me in ignorance, would you?"

"I just might," she muttered, grinding her stylus into the paper, wishing the paper were his head. Violence was her line of work – as a former member of MACO and newly inducted weapons cadet. But the images Kirk stirred in her mind were beginning to make anything she'd done in the past look like child's play.

"Look, I don't know what you have against me. I think it's only that I'm friends with Bones, to be completely honest. McCoy, sorry. But I also don't know what he did that you would have anything against him. He's a remarkably good guy from what I've seen, just a bit rough around the edges," Kirk attempted looking her in the eyes, but she decidedly avoided eye contact.

"I just…don't like doctors, okay? I don't trust them," she muttered. She had no idea why she was telling him even _that_.

"Why? Give me one good reason."

Camille finally looked at him, and every ounce of burning rage she felt was in that glare. "You are remarkably annoying, did you know? You should have a world record or something?"

The jerk actually looked pleased with himself. Camille groaned and turned away, making a valiant attempt at tuning him out.

"So, you're actually going to leave me on my own here?" Kirk asked, feigning hurt.

"Well, you're smart enough to be here in command track, buddy. Figure it out yourself," she retorted.

"Feisty one, aren't you?" The amused look on his face only served to fuel her hate fire.

"Shut up, will you?" she growled, not caring enough to come up with a perfectly placed insult, just wanting him to leave her _alone_ , for goodness' sake!

"Nope. Never do."

Camille rolled her eyes and attempted to shut out his constant yammering. If she could just adjust the detonation settings on this system, then… maybe…

She had it!

Running up to the instructor, she called out, "Captain Richards, would this work?"

He frowned at her, looking at least a little intrigued, but mostly nonplussed. "Osbourne, I'd rather wait until the rest of the – "

"Are they anywhere close to being done? Any of them?" she queried, gesturing at the room around her. Sure enough, most of the other cadets were bent over their screens, and those that weren't looked like they were anywhere but the class.

Resigned, he took the paper. "You know, finishing first is not always a good thing."

As he looked over the screen, however, his frown slowly slackened, along with his jaw. He looked up at her.

"Well, I'll be damned. Except in this instance! How did you come up with that one, Osbourne?"

"I just sort of… thought of it." She shrugged. It really hadn't been too difficult. She truly had just sort of thought of it. There wasn't any other explanation.

He glanced down at the screen again, flipping through the equations she'd come up with and the results they would yield. "This is remarkable. It would have taken most of our weapons officers years to come up with something like this…and you did it in ten minutes. Well done."

"Will you try it, sir?" she asked eagerly.

"I'll look at the other cadets' ideas, of course. But I think you have a bright future with Starfleet, Osbourne. A very bright future.

She practically flew back to her seat, but her joy was interrupted by Kirk's voice.

"So can you help me now?"

She groaned, but in all honesty, she was too far on Cloud Nine to be too bothered by him. "Hand it over. Here's what you do."

* * *

 _Crap,_ was all Karina could think as a sea of other cadets stood up all around her. _Crap. Crap. Crap. Crap ten times over._

Spanish dude was walking toward her. The instructor had instructed them to find partners, and she appeared to be who he'd chosen. _Why_ was he walking toward her? _Why?_

Why not? Why did she have issue with it? Was she afraid to talk to boys? Yes! Yes, she was terrified. She hadn't really been allowed to interact with the opposite gender for the past two years at the abbey. Once the children hit puberty, the nuns mostly separated them by gender. When asked, Sister Agatha had said it was to "guard against any impurity." Karina had asked Camille about that, pretty sure even as she asked that she didn't want to know the answer. Camille had told her anyway. She'd been right.

Boys were different now. When it had been as simple a matter as a boy sticking bugs in your cafeteria meal, everything was simple. And even that hadn't happened to her for years. Most boys her age at the abbey had just avoided her for years now – along with every other girl there. But now? They were almost _too_ simple. So simple they needed a manual. At least that was what Camille had told her. Crap, crap, crap. How was she supposed to –

" _Es este asiento tomado_?" he asked, his voice wonderfully deep and alluring. She opened her mouth, attempting to form some form of words, then electing against it, settling on a simple nod.

" _Gracias_ ," he said, taking it.

" _De nada_ ," she replied, her voice barely steady.

" _Cuál es tu idioma nativo_?" he asked, his eyes probing hers.

" _Inglés_ ," she replied, now able to reply intelligently, hoping her rapid heartbeat was not audible. Vaguely, she wondered if he hadn't been able to detect her American accent in spite of how hard she'd been working on Spanish lately and was just asking to be polite.

" _Americana_?" he asked. "Why is a girl like you without a partner for so long?"

She blinked. Was he…flirting with her? Plus, it hadn't even been that long. Only about thirty seconds. Yet, despite the fact that she could see right through this, the flirting didn't bug her that much. It was new, after all.

"Um… I don't know? I was going to ask the same question about you," she replied. Did she just flirt back? She hadn't even intended to! What was she doing flirting with this guy? _What? WHAT?!_

"Are you…okay?" he asked, looking her up and down. Dang. He had such a sultry accent. Was it coincidence that she, as a linguistics cadet, found that attractive?

"Uh… yeah. Yeah, I'm fine. I'm Karina, by the way," she managed to stammer out, hoping she didn't sound as stupid out loud as she did in her head.

"Agustin," he replied, flashing her a perfectly white smile. "Nice to meet you, Karina."

For some odd reason, her name sounded odd in the Spanish accent. Oh, well. It wasn't its language of origin, maybe that was it. She'd never thought it sounded that good in an American accent, either.

"You too," she replied, wishing she could come up with some sort of witty reply instead.

The instructor was eyeing them, his stern face clearly saying, "Will you two quit flirting and get back to work?"

Wincing inward, Karina turned back to Agustin. "So, what do you think of this signal?"

"I want to know what you think," he said. "Considering your test score."

Karina's eyes widened. "How did you know - ?"

"I have ways. Anyway, Miss 97%, what do _you_ think of this signal?" He gave her that irresistible smile again, making her heart flutter.

Karina cleared her throat and eyed it. "I…um, well, it's Klingon, isn't it?"

"You would know better than I," he said, his eyes never leaving her face.

This guy was too charming for her own good. Karina tried to send a message to her cheeks to stop turning red. Clearly the cells were not into it at the moment. Wait until she told Camille about this.

She took a closer look. Of course, it was Klingon. She didn't know why it was so difficult for her to utilize her full range of intelligence.

"I-I guess. Anyway, it's a threat. Saying they have a store of armed photon torpedoes locked onto our location and are about to fire unless we send over the Captain and First Officer." That didn't sound sketchy at all.

"So, what do we do in that situation?" Agustin asked.

"Why don't you tell me? I'm linguistics, not a decision-maker," she shot back. Where had the sass come from?

"Very well. I say we go to warp," Agustin said.

"We can't go to warp. We're damaged."

"Does it actually say any of that on the paper?"

"No, I'm just…making conversation, I guess." She gulped down her nervousness. _Why_ had she said that?

"This next one is interesting…I'm not so familiar with the hieroglyphic languages…" he frowned at the paper.

Karina took it. "Oh, that's not hieroglyphics. That's Russian. At least, I think it is."

Why was she playing dumb? Of course, it was Russian. She knew that.

"Like I said, I'm not familiar. What does it say?"

Why they would be receiving a signal in Russian, she had no idea, but all right. It was one of her better languages, after all.

"It says they're coming to our aid. Their ship's weapons are more advanced than ours, they'll fire on the war birds and destroy them," she told him, holding the screen out so he could see.

He raised a brow. "I'm impressed," he said. "No wonder you got a 97 on that exam."

She attempted to shrug it off, still vaguely wondering how he'd known. "I grew up in a nunnery," she said. "It was a fairly boring existence."

Agustin smirked. "I'll bet."

Karina smiled and turned back to the paper. "What about this one?"

"What do you think?" he asked innocently.

"Not that again!"

* * *

Karina slammed the door, running over to Camille and grabbing her by the arm. "Camcamcamcamcamcamcamcamcamcam _cam_!"

"Don't tell me. Juan Felipe proposed," Camille said, grinning. She'd seen this look often enough on some of her friends from back home to know there was only one cause for it.

Karina let out a peal of giggles and fell onto the bed next to her. "Actually, his name's Agustin. And no, not quite. He just…actually wanted to be partners with me today."

Camille bolted upright, sending the screen that had been laying on her lap clattering to the floor. After checking to make sure it wasn't damaged, she set it on the bedside table and turned to Karina. "Get out! What happened?"

"He just came up to me and asked if the seat was taken. He asked what a girl like me was doing without a partner!" Karina let out a trill of joy and kicked her legs in the air.

Camille's face was one of almost approval. "That's _smooth_ ," she said. "Especially for a teenage boy. Like, as in…a smoking hot girl like you? Or a valued, to be treasured girl like you? There is certainly a difference. Not if you asked Jim Kirk, however."

Karina tilted her head, intrigued all of a sudden. "Uh…I'm not sure. What was that about Jim Kirk?"

Camille groaned, falling back against her pillow. "Oy. He transferred into my advanced weaponry class. Unfortunately, he is just as annoying of a prat that I took him for. Fortunately…that's not all that unbearable. He's actually kind of fun."

"I figured. He seems like he would be. Anything else about the doctor?"

Camille's eyes narrowed. "Still a pompous jerk, as far as I know."

"Pompous? Really?" Karina asked, smirking. "Do you actually know what that means?"

"Hey, I may not be a linguistics cadet, but I am, in fact, fairly well versed in vocabulary. And yes, I know what pompous means." Camille held her head high, trying to mask her uncertainty.

"So you would know it means irritatingly grand," Karina said. "That does not describe Dr. McCoy from what I've seen."

"How would you describe him, then?" Camille demanded.

"Rough around the edges, a little grouchy, maybe, but not pompous," Karina replied.

"There's no maybe about it, and how many doctors have you known in your lifetime?" Camille asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Not that many. But from what I understand, they're human beings with varying personalities, too. How many have you known?"

"Too many for my taste. And they all have a God complex," Camille muttered, turning away and hoping the subject would just drop. She didn't want to have to explain this now.

"Why did you need so many of them?"

Camille closed her eyes and sighed. She figured this would come out eventually. She had, purposely, left this detail off of her information for the medical record of Starfleet. It probably wasn't the smartest thing to do, but she didn't want anyone constantly checking after her welfare – especially not any doctor. But of all the people she didn't mind knowing, so far Karina had been the most likely option.

"I have…a lung condition," she said. "When I was eight, I got trapped in my family's burning apartment building in Manhattan. I made it down to the second story and jumped, but I'd inhaled a lot of smoke. My dad said I looked like I was flying. Ever since, he's said I was born to fly."

Karina nodded, still not quite understanding. Camille reluctantly continued.

"All the doctors say I won't live past thirty," she said, her voice barely a whisper. "Not with this condition."

Karina's eyes widened. "But…you seem so…"

"Normal? It's because I am. I just have…spells, I suppose, every once in awhile. My throat constricts, and unless I take my medicine, they don't go away. I've had a couple of bad ones, but nothing life-threatening yet. It would appear the universe is trying to smite me before thirty, however, with my accident-prone tendencies.

"My parents kept trying to get a second opinion, but none of them even gave me more than a second glance. They took one listen to my lungs and gave the prognosis. Said technology should be enough to rely on by the twenty-third century." _Enough to prove I'm dying, but not enough to save me,_ she thought bitterly. "We even consulted some doctors in Europe. Believe it or not, Grecian doctors come very highly recommended in certain circles. But once again, just the same old song."

Karina sat there, letting it sink in. Already, Camille was the best friend she'd ever had, and she was probably going to lose her someday, sooner than she'd ever imagined. A cold hand clutched her heart.

"So, I understand now," she said, trying to refocus on the present moment. "Why you were so determined not to go to the clinic. Too many memories, right?"

Camille nodded. She hated crying, but tears threatened. It was so unfair. She didn't understand why this had happened to her, of all people, at the age of eight. What had she done to deserve it?

"That's also why I left MACO," she said. "If I didn't have an axe hanging over my head, I might care more about pleasing my father than I do about enjoying what I do. If I've only got twelve years left, I might as well not be miserable."

Karina smiled weakly. "Makes sense."

"Everyone finds out eventually. I guessed it was probably better to tell you before I just randomly collapsed on the floor wheezing one day," Camille said. Karina wasn't sure whether she was supposed to laugh or not. She personally didn't find any of it funny.

"No one else here knows?" she asked. Camille shook her head, and Karina frowned. "Cam, you know, it's probably a good idea for you to tell – "

Camille sat bolt upright. " _Hel_ l no."

"Come on! He is technically your doctor now."

"Did you hear a word of what I just said? This is why I hate doctors. I'm sure as heck not telling this one about it so he can just condemn me more!" Camille stormed, rising off the bed.

Karina tried biting back the intimidation she knew was surely showing. Camille, noticing her expression, shook her head and stalked into the bathroom, standing at the sink, gripping its edges and staring at her reflection in the mirror. From the other room came Karina's voice, small, but without a tremor.

"Maybe he won't. Maybe Dr. McCoy will be different."

She didn't respond. She did, however, think, _That's likely._


	6. Trouble Brewing

**I included a slight Doctor Who reference in this one...there might be use for that in the future of this series... See if you can catch it!**

 **I only own my OCs and my plot.**

* * *

Jim stopped by the clinic more and more often since Camille Osbourne had been dragged down here, it seemed like. Not that he brought her up every time, but Bones could tell he was just waiting for a hint that she had been by again. For a while, he'd questioned whether Jim was actually fishing around for his own benefit, under the guise of intending to set her up with Bones, but the more he got to know the younger man, the more evident it became that Jim Kirk pretty much said exactly what he was thinking – especially when it came to members of the opposite sex. And he made no secret of the fact that he was looking to add matchmaker to his long list of accomplishments this time.

It was more than starting to get on Bones' last nerve.

"No," Bones muttered as Jim sauntered in, noting the smirk on his face.

"I didn't even say anything yet," Jim replied, the smirk growing bigger, along with the pounding in Bones' skull.

"Yeah, but if I know you, you're planning on checking in on what you call 'my situation.' I don't have a _situation_ , Jim. So I recommend you leave it alone. Unless, of course, you want a sudden injection of the Andorian shingles vaccine." As if to accentuate his point, Bones pulled up a hypospray and readied it. In truth, it was a simple sore throat remedy for his next patient, but no one needed to know that.

Jim considered the possibility of being induced with Andorian shingles, but didn't appear too intimidated. "Didn't you take some oath against that? The Hippocratic oath or something?"

"I doubt Hippocrates would fault me this time," Bones growled.

"I actually wasn't going to ask about your situation, Bones," Jim said, giving the appearance of changing the subject. "I was just going to tell you about my weapons class. I have a certain new classmate…"

Bones groaned. That definitely counted as asking. "Dammit, man, can you take a hint?"

"Not normally."

Bones shook his head. "Remind me why I sat by you on the shuttle again?"

Jim shrugged. "Because it was the only seat available?"

"Keep tellin' yourself that, kid." Bones turned back to where he'd been working and frowned at Camille Osbourne's medical information. Did he actually want to discuss this with Jim? It would only give him more fuel. And there was the matter of patient confidentiality to consider. Then again, he did need to process this, just to make sure he wasn't only imagining things. And Jim was just as good as anyone else, he guessed. Well, besides his instructor, but he wasn't going to bring anything to her attention unless it was absolutely necessary.

"There _is_ a discrepancy in her information that has me stumped," he muttered, sure he was going to regret this later.

Jim rolled his chair over in two seconds clocked. "Really? That's fascinating."

"Just shut up for a minute, will you? I need to talk this out," Bones frowned at the screen in front of him. "She's taking some kind of medication for a lung condition…but there's nothing on here about which condition. It's generally taken when the patient has trouble breathing. She seemed fine when she was in here, though…"

"Other than screaming some choice words about your honest profession," Jim muttered.

"But she was never even out of breath," Bones mused, sitting back and rubbing the crease in the middle of his forehead.

Jim clapped his hands, leaning forward. "I have a solution for you, good doctor," he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "She's taking that medication, and it's doing its job. So the question remains: Why are you so interested?" Jim asked.

"You never let up, do you?" Bones glared at him, laying the screen aside. Maybe if he wasn't holding it, he'd seem less intrigued.

"Generally not." That infuriating grin of his was back.

"I'm her physician. It happens to be my _job_ to be interested," Bones said, speaking slowly, like he was talking to a five-year-old. Mentally, that wasn't too far of a leap.

"Suuuurrreeee…."

Confirmation. "Get out."

"It's a free country," Jim quipped, putting his feet up on the nearest biobed and making himself at home.

"Come on! I've got another patient coming in!" Bones grabbed Jim's feet and shoved him off the biobed.

Jim stood up, backing toward the door. "Another patient? Is this one hot? Maybe we can double date."

Bones threw his hands up in the air. "I will never win with you, will I, Jim?"

"Not if I can help it, Bones. Not if I can help it." Jim flashed that grin again, but, to Bones' relief, he ducked out of the clinic.

* * *

"All right, cadets," the instructor barked. "Today we'll be listening for distant transmissions. They may be Romulan, Klingon, Orion, or Vulcan. We do not necessarily know where they will be in the universe. They could be as far away as the planet Utopia, as close as Saturn's moons. Either way, unless they are directly threatening Earth, you are not to panic if a Klingon war bird signal comes in. Nor any of the others. In fact, you'll have to be really convincing if you want me to believe you. Now get to it!"

Karina turned to Agustin, who'd been hanging around her more and more lately. She definitely was not going to complain there. "Which one do you want to listen to?"

He shrugged, grabbing two pair of the earphones. "You pick."

Karina smiled to herself, hoping she wasn't blushing. He was the first person to ever really let her think for herself – well, besides Cam. But Cam wasn't a tall, dark, Spanish boy, so Karina did not feel the least bit guilty for letting this thrill her just a bit more.

"What about that one?" she asked, pointing towards a transmission in the middle of the plethora of options. No one else was listening for it, and that made it all the more fascinating to her.

Agustin frowned for a moment, but it was a fleeting fancy. He smiled and shrugged whatever his misgivings had been off. "Sure. Why not?"

Karina grabbed a pair of the earphones for herself, and Agustin took his, brow still slightly furrowed. It took them a while to receive a transmission. They must be somewhere close to the edge of the universe. Karina let herself daydream, wondering what deep space would be like, billions of lightyears from anything she had ever known. She didn't think it would be so bad, not if she had at least one other person with her. And, hot as Agustin might be, she was going to go with Camille if she got to pick.

A warbling static came in over the speaker. Karina jumped, lost in her thoughts. After glancing to see whether Agustin had caught that horrendous display, she turned the volume up on the transmission.

"Sounds… Romulan," she muttered. Picking up her stylus, she began translating.

"Attack…new plan…Starfleet," she muttered, then, realizing what she had just heard, dropped the pencil. She glanced up at Agustin and saw he looked grim.

"Did you hear what I just heard?" she asked, her voice far too squeaky for her liking.

"Every word," he muttered.

He wouldn't meet her eyes. Something was off about the way he was acting. However, Karina thought that a potential threat to Starfleet was a bit more important than Agustin's strange behavior. She listened for anything further, but nothing came through. Ripping the earphones out, she sat staring at the screen for a few moments, then ran up to the instructor.

"Captain Stark!" she cried, showing him her translation. "I picked this up from a Romulan transmission.

The captain, who, unbeknownst to his students, was on suspension for drinking on the job and would rather be anywhere but here with these naïve young cadets, sat up, his brow furrowed. Karina immediately felt her stomach swoop, wondering if she'd made a mistake.

"This had better be good, Bartowski," he growled, taking the screen. He pretended to study it for all of five seconds. "Uh-huh. Uh-huh. And what, exactly, is the point of this?"

She blinked, pretty sure he'd misunderstood. "With all due respect, sir, I'm not sure what's so confusing about this. Do the words 'attack, and 'Starfleet' in quick succession not concern you at all?"

He tossed the screen to the desk carelessly.

"Look, cadet, you're a bright kid," he said, his tone not matching his words. "I'll admit it, you are the highest scoring cadet so far under the age of twenty. You're impressive, I will give you that. But you can't get an inflated sense of importance from one test."

"This isn't about me, sir – "

"Don't interrupt me, cadet," he growled, jabbing a finger at her and making her visibly wince. "If you have any desire of moving up from Cadet to Ensign, that is."

Karina lowered her eyes to the floor. "Yes, sir."

"Now where was I?" he asked, frowning.

"My elevated sense of importance." She really didn't think this was necessary. A concern for Starfleet's safety was reasonable, wasn't it?

"Right. There is no Romulan transmission anywhere near Earth at the moment. Need I remind you that there has also been peace between Earth and Romulus ever since we first made contact a hundred years ago?"

"No, sir. I was aware."

"Well then, why would they want to attack us?" Captain Stark narrowed his eyes at her. "And secondly… let me see the transmission area you picked."

She handed it to him. His mouth tightened until it was a puckered line.

"Consider yourself academically suspended, Cadet Bartowski," he growled.

Karina's head snapped up. "Pardon me, sir?"

"There is no transmission coming from your quadrant. You're riding on a high from your success, and you've invented some fairy story about attacking Romulans to keep yourself in the spotlight!"

"Sir, I never – "

"Return to your seat, Cadet, while I seriously ponder taking this to Admiral Marcus, who will then seriously ponder your future with Starfleet."

Karina slowly turned and walked back to her seat. Agustin had wandered off, but she didn't care. Suspension? Just for trying to do what was right? Besides, it made no sense that he'd leaped to that conclusion from not personally seeing any transmission. It could have cut out between the time she'd picked it up and when she'd showed it to him.

She tried to ignore the sinking feeling in her gut. What would happen to her if she couldn't stay with Starfleet? No way was she going back to the abbey. She would stay here in San Francisco. She was technically old enough to be a waitress now. At least she might have a chance to use her language abilities there. There were plenty of interplanetary delegates who utilized the restaurants around San Francisco.

But that signal - ? She hadn't been wrong. She knew it. She knew it she'd heard right. A Romulan ship was going to attack Starfleet, and they had some new plan or other.

Suspension or not, she was getting to the bottom of this. Even if she was wrong, it sounded like her career with Starfleet had gone downhill pretty quickly.

* * *

Camille cleared her throat, again. Jim glanced down at her, concern lining his features.

"Are you… okay?" he asked, turning away from the simulation torpedo he was supposed to be arming.

She shook her head, hoping she could get him off that scent. It wouldn't prove easy. When he got an idea in his head, the man was like a bloodhound.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Jim. Aren't you supposed to be working on that war head?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yes, ma'am. Whatever you say."

She leaned her head against the metal of the torpedo. Oversleeping was one thing, but forgetting to take her medication because of it was quite another. It wasn't that big of a deal if she missed it once, and so far, her throat felt only mildly constricted. Of course, she kept clearing it. None of this would be a problem if Jim weren't so unabashedly concerned.

In a way, it was a bit endearing. In the five days they'd been in this class together, the arrogant cadet had become a good friend. Their banter was no longer barbed, but rather playful. Alright, she'd admit it, Jim Kirk was an okay guy. His doctor friend, however… She wasn't quite sold on Dr. Leonard McCoy yet. Not even close.

"You're sure you're okay down there, Cam?" His head poked over the top of the torpedo again.

"Yes, Jim, I'm fine. Now shut up and get back to work. I'm doing the best I can down here."

"Looked like you were taking a break to me."

"James. I'm done."

His face appeared over the top of the war head again and he surveyed her work. "Huh. So you are. What was I supposed to be doing, again?"

"Arm the damn torpedo, Jim," she demanded, and if a smile could be pointed, she'd just managed it.

"Aye, captain." He smirked at her and disappeared again.

A few moments of tinkering noises, and a warmness came into the metal, along with a revving sound. Camille stepped back, smiling.

"Jim! Jim, we did it!" She turned around to fetch Captain Richards, feeling a slight catch in her chest. She faltered to a stop, one hand gripping her chest, the other the railing. Perhaps she'd also ask him if she could retire to her room early.

Another catch in her chest. Strike that. She _would_ be asking him. If she could just hold out for the medication…

"Camille? You okay?" One of the girls to her left asked, but Camille couldn't see who it was, nor could she recognize the voice. It seemed at least two of her senses were beginning to fail her. _That_ one was new.

Her throat was constricting. Why now? She hadn't missed a dose of medicine in a year! This only happened when she forgot for at least a week.

That could only mean the condition was getting worse. She was going to die sooner than anyone had predicted – maybe today.

The last sensation she knew before darkness enveloped her was a pair of arms grabbing her.


	7. Not Breathing

**Hello! I haven't been able to get back and edit this for a couple of weeks since getting back to school, but found myself with some time on my hands today and went back to cover this chapter. Have fun with it!**

* * *

Jim ran to Camille, feeling the blood drain from his face. The girl who had grabbed her before she fell was listening for a heartbeat, taking her pulse. When she looked up at him, her voice was strained, her face grim.

"I've got a pulse, but she's not breathing, at all!"

Captain Richards skidded up to them, panting. He was getting older, and it was less easy for him to take off running from a complete standstill. He knelt down next to them, then said, "Someone bring her to medical. Hurry up!"

The girl was tall enough, but thin as a wire. Jim doubted she'd be able to take Camille the entire way. Oh, she was going to kill him when she woke up…

"Give her to me," he told her, and she helped ease Cam into Jim's arms. Jim started running, the way to Med Bay embedded in his mind by now. In fact, he outran the captain.

He barely got there in time to catch Bones. When he rounded the corner, his friend was heading away from him, about to go on break.

"Bones!" he called, trying to catch him before he rounded the corner. "BONES!"

Bones frowned, then took in the situation. He turned almost as pale as Jim, then took off running toward them. Jim wasn't necessarily out of shape, and Camille wasn't exactly heavy, but she was dead weight, and Jim had been running all the way from the weapons department. Even though he probably could have made it the extra twenty feet to the clinic, Bones reached out and took Camille from him. Jim might have teased him about that in a less dire situation.

Captain Richards ran past Jim and called, "Return to the class, Cadet."

Jim raised an eyebrow. Sure. Of course he would.

Not hardly.

Instead he followed the captain and Bones into the clinic. Bones laid Camille on the bed, then put his head to her chest. Jim cringed, thinking that when she woke up, she was probably going to kill Bones, too.

"Something's up with her lungs," Bones muttered. "Just like I suspected. And now her airway's blocked. Jim, hand me those tubes."

Jim scanned the counters, not sure what Bones meant.

"Hurry up, dammit!" Bones shouted. "She's suffocating here!"

Finding them, Jim all but tossed them to Bones, who inserted one into her mouth and attached the other end to a machine. For all Jim knew about medication, it could have contained sparkling glitter dust.

"What is that, Bones?" he asked.

"Steam," Bones told him. "Over a thousand years of medicine and it's still the best way to clear a blocked airway. Now shut up."

Jim and Captain Richards waited with bated breath. Bones changed a few of the settings on the machine. No results.

"Is there anything more to be done?" Richards asked.

"This seems like a particularly advanced attack," Bones told him. "If there is, it's beyond my ability or training." He turned back to Camille and began massaging her throat, desperate at this point. "Come on, girl," he muttered, his face screwed up with concentration, a bead of sweat forming on his brow. "You're a fighter, that much is obvious. Don't let this be what takes you out. You're tougher than this."

An eternal five seconds passed, and finally she took one shallowing, shuddering breath. The men breathed a sigh of relief.

"She's okay, then?" Jim asked.

"If I can get her conscious, she should be out of the woods completely," Bones told him. "Jim, go get her friend."

"Bones, I don't know her friend," Jim told him.

"Then find her, man! She's the closest thing this girl has to next to kin as far as I can tell," Bones growled.

"How do you recommend I go about that, _Doctor_?" Jim asked, the last word laced with arsenic.

"Karina…" came a weak voice from the table. The men whirled to find Camille trying to speak. "Karina…Bartowski…first year xenolinguistics…"

Bones nodded at Jim, who took off running. He then, against his better judgment, smoothed her hair back from her forehead. It was probably due to exhaustion, but Bones noted with satisfaction that she didn't protest at all.

"Thanks, Camille. Jim will get her. Don't try to say anything else," he murmured.

* * *

Karina was lost in her own thoughts when Jim Kirk came running in the door, out of breath. She looked at him and frowned. What was he doing in a transmission lab?

"Captain," he said, addressing Stark. "I need Cadet Bartowski to come with me, immediately."

Stark waved her off. "She's all yours."

Jim looked at her, eyebrows raised. "Well, that was easy."

"Long story," she said, shaking her head as though to clear it. "What's wrong?"

His expression turned grim. "It's Camille…"

Her eyes widened. Before he could say anything further, she had taken off running for the med wing. Shrugging to no one in particular, Jim took off after her. Clearly she knew something he didn't.

* * *

The figure stepped into the darkened room and pulled up a holo-screen, reminiscent of the viewing screens on a starship. He pulled his jacket around him, shivering, whether from the cold or from fear he did not know. Blinking into position, the screen was soon filled with a picture of a horrendous face, a Romulan face. Normally, he didn't find Romulans repulsive, but the dark markings frightened him. What little he knew of Romulan culture told him that they were tattoos to signify intense grief. These hadn't exactly told him how they came by such grief, but he wasn't interested. In fact, if it were his choice, he wouldn't choose to deal with Romulans at all.

But right now, they were his key to survival.

"I thought you said the signal could not be picked up by their transmitters," the captain growled, the contempt he felt evident.

"I was mistaken. Clearly they were more advanced than I thought."

"Clearly. What could have caused this egregious oversight? Perhaps a slight distraction?" The Romulan captain raised his eyebrows.

The agent scoffed. "The girl? Please. I can handle her."

"You'd better. She is onto our scent, and I want her off of it. Permanently. I assume you know what must be done here?"

The agent paused, then nodded. "Of course, sir."

"Do not disappoint me. The penalty should you fail will be…great."

"I understand, captain," he muttered.

"Get rid of her. Make sure she can't speak, do you understand?"

"Believe me, sir, I do. Quite clearly."


	8. Chapter 8

**Dude. I'm going to see Star Trek Beyond today. I'm suuuuper excited... and I also happen to be a Chekov girl, so I'm not emotionally prepared in any way. (Yeah, I know. I'm not a Bones girl, interestingly enough. This particular installment just happens to focus on him.)**

 **Sorry I posted a bit later today, and also, sorry I haven't responded to reviews and/or follows! It's been a busy week. Actually, I barely had time to post this this morning. (Just a note, I try to follow/favorite back, and review back. Even if I don't review back, I will attempt to respond to your review. And seriously, I welcome reviews, just...be gentle please. I'm okay with criticism, but not harsh criticism. I'm a delicate soul.)**

 **Anywho, here's chapter 8! Hope you enjoy! Not sure if I still need a disclaimer, but in case I do: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters. I only own Camille and Karina.**

* * *

"For the last time, girl, will you tell me what is wrong with you? You almost died!"

"I've told you, this happens! It's not that big of a – " Camille's voice trailed off as she broke into a fit of coughing.

"Not that big of a deal? Oh, I can see that quite clearly. I'll just go against everything I've vowed to uphold as your physician and let you go about your normal everyday business. Now tell me – "

"She has a lung condition," came a voice completely devoid of emotion from the doorway. Both doctor and patient whirled to find an out-of-breath Karina standing on the threshold, both hands propped against the door and nearly doubled over. Her face, however, betrayed her emotions. From his few encounters with the girl, Bones could already tell she was essentially an open book.

And right now she was less than pleased with her friend.

Bones walked toward her and offered her the chair just inside the door. Before he went back to his station beside the table, he caught a glimpse of Jim collapsed on the floor, panting, outside the clinic. Giving his head a slight shake, Bones muttered out of the corner of his mouth, "Unbelievable."

Turning back to Karina, he said, "Well, I'd gathered that, Miss Bartowski. But, since you are so much more open about your friend's current condition, could you elaborate?"

"Excuse me!" Camille protested. "I believe I'm entitled to some patient confidentiality. And it's my choice to keep this particular topic private."

"You almost died, Cam," Karina growled. "I don't care what the others have said, he still needs to know what is going on with you, all right? And if Dr. McCoy is just the same, well then, you're right and your life is also exactly the same. But if he isn't, then, why wouldn't you want to find out? The difference could be your life."

She stood. "I believe my work here is done. Doctor, I hope I'm right about you. I truly do."

In the doorway, she paused. "I'm glad you're alright, Cam. Really."

Camille, in a small voice, replied, "Thanks. I'll be there soon."

Once the girl was gone, Bones pulled up a seat and stared Camille down.

"I got all day, girl. Now do you want to tell me what's happening inside you?"

Camille leaned back and sighed.

"My family lived in an apartment in downtown Manhattan until I was eight," she said. "One day there was this huge fire in the adjacent building, and it spread to ours. My parents got dragged out by our neighbors, but I got left behind. I'd breathed in a lot of smoke before I figured I might as well jump out the window. Obviously, I survived. It was only the second story.

"Either way, after that, my lungs were never the same. That medication I take was the most any doctor has ever done for me. Most say I won't make it past thirty," she continued, her eyes downcast.

Bones sat there, frowning.

"How many doctors have you seen?"

"More than I can count. At least ten in the past ten years."

"And none of them have even offered to look into it?"

"Not a single one."

Bones' frown deepened. No wonder she hates us. Then he shook his head. Whoever she had seen in the past, they were no doctors. No, they were money-suckers.

And there was none he loathed more than those who preyed on the ill. Well, besides his ex-wife.

Standing, Bones walked over to the counter and pulled out a plastic sheet.

"These are the X-rays of your lungs," he said. "What you say makes sense, but for one thing: They should have healed by now. I have never known smoke to cause this kind of long-lasting damage. It's like a worse form of lung cancer, but there's no sign of cancer in your lungs. I'm at a bit of a loss here, Miss Osbourne. You're an enigma."

She nodded, her mouth in a tight line. Obviously, he wasn't telling her anything she didn't know.

"That being said… I'd like to treat you for this."

Her head jerked up, her eyes narrowed, but not so much that he couldn't see a bit of hope there.

"Pardon me, Doctor?"

"Oh come on, girl. I'm a doctor. Treating people for things like this is my job. I don't know who you've seen, but clearly none of them know the meaning of the term 'physician.' Now, I would like to treat you for your condition."

Camille eyed him cautiously. "None of the other doctors could do anything. What makes you think you'll be able to?"

He walked over and looked her in the eyes. "I don't, actually. But I can't in good conscience not look into this when it could be the difference of one of my patient's lives. I will get to the bottom of this, but you're right. You have the final choice as the patient, but I think, deep down, you haven't resigned yourself to the idea of an early death. Have you?"

Camille opened her mouth to respond, but found that she couldn't force any smart-aleck comment out. He was right, she hadn't resigned herself. Not for the first time, an overwhelming desire to live, to experience life, to die an old woman, peacefully in her sleep, or even to die young but die for something worthwhile, overwhelmed her. She swallowed the lump in her throat. No way was she crying in front of McCoy.

"I don't want to be some experiment. I want my body to be respected, not some sacrifice for the good of science," she managed to choke out.

He nodded. "I won't treat you like an experiment. You have my word."

Looking up for the first time in the conversation, Camille nearly asked whether his word was good enough for her to believe. But she happened to look right up into his storm-cloud eyes. Why she so quickly changed her mind and trusted this man, she wasn't sure. Maybe it was the calming quality of his deep, Southern voice. Maybe it was the degree of earnestness she saw in his eyes.

Either way, where he had not had it at all two hours earlier, Dr. Leonard McCoy had gained Camille Osbourne's trust. If he hoped to keep it, he'd better prove that he was a better doctor than any of the others.

* * *

Karina rose to answer the knock at the door. It wasn't Camille, certainly, but who else would be coming to her room? Was it possible…?

Her heart dropped only a bit when she saw Jim Kirk standing outside her door.

"Bones sent me," he began.

"Um, who?"

"Dr. McCoy. Sorry. He said to tell you that Camille's going to be fine. She just needs to stay overnight for some observation. He also asked if you knew where she kept her medication."

Karina nodded and stepped aside, letting him enter. If the nuns knew she was letting strange men into her room - ! But for some odd reason, Kirk didn't make her uncomfortable. Sure, from what Camille had said, he was a bit of a womanizer, a player. But she hadn't ever gotten that vibe from him.

She just hoped she didn't underestimate her ability to read people.

Taking the bottle she handed him, he looked down at her.

"So, I don't think we've officially met. I'm Jim. Jim Kirk."

Cautiously, she replied, "I know who you are. I'm Karina."

He nodded, smiling. "I know."

Something was different about the way he talked to her than the way he did Cam. He was a lot more snarky with Cam, even making small talk like he was now. He seemed more careful with her. But, once again, it didn't make her uncomfortable. It made her feel very safe, something she innately doubted many women felt with James Kirk.

"How are you doing with all of this?" he asked.

She frowned. "Why do you ask?"

"Well, your roommate had a close call today. You looked a little off when I first came and got you. I'm a good listener."

Karina closed her eyes, blew a piece of brown hair out of her face, and motioned for him to sit down at the desk. She, in turn, sank down on the bed, sitting criss-cross, meditation style, and facing him.

"I may or may not have got suspended today," she muttered.

Jim's eyes widened. She knew she looked like an inherently good kid, which she was. She didn't mind his surprise at all. In fact, it made her feel better about herself.

"What did you possibly do to get suspended this early in the game?" Jim asked.

"I picked up a signal from a Romulan ship that the captain couldn't find. He assumed I was doing it to get attention and suspended me. Simple as that." She frowned, debating whether she should tell him more.

He leaned forward. No way was this guy as stupid as Camille claimed he sounded sometimes.

"There's more, isn't there?"

She sighed. Apparently she was telling him, whether she wanted to or not.

"I heard something about a new attack. A new plan. I have no clue what it means, but they mentioned Starfleet. The signal was broken, though. I didn't hear details."

Jim was indignant.

"You got suspended for reporting that? Come on! What was your instructor thinking? If I could get my hands on that guy, I'd – "

Karina put a hand up to stop him.

"I don't care if we're in private. Threatening an officer is a bad idea, and you'll get more than just suspended."

His contorted face slowly relaxed as he considered the truth of her words.

"All right, fair enough. But we can't just let this sit. Something's got to be done. I can go to Pike," he offered. "He may listen to me."

"I don't want you to get caught up in this," Karina insisted. "If it's nothing, we'll both probably be kicked out." She ground her teeth, contemplating. "But you're right. I can't just do nothing."

He stood, then came to kneel by the bed so he could look her in the eyes.

"You know, I've been the underdog my entire life. Realistically, I shouldn't have been. It started with the jerk my mother married after my father died. He acted like a saint around her, then as soon as she got off planet, made my life miserable. Of course, I may or may not have driven his car off a cliff that one time…and it was an antique…"

Karina pursed her lips and raised her eyebrows.

"Don't give me that look. It's details, Karina. Details. Anyway, he instilled the mentality in me that I wasn't worth anything. I don't think anyone has been awful to you in your past. You don't bear those marks. And trust me, I can recognize a person who's shared the hurt. But let's face it. You're the underdog here at Starfleet. How old are you?"

Loathe to tell him, she muttered, "Fourteen."

"Exactly. You're a kid. People tend to forget that to be a young person in Starfleet, you have to be incredibly capable. You don't doubt someone here just because they're a kid. You doubt them if they've proved they can't be trusted."

Karina frowned. "What are you trying to get at here, Jim?"

"So you're suspended. Means you'll go back to class eventually. Sure, you'll be behind everyone else, but from what Cam's told me, you'll be able to catch up to them pretty quickly. But no one ever trusts you again. Besides that, Starfleet possibly gets attacked. You've let a potential threat slide. As it is, if you take it past that idiot who suspended you, you don't stand a chance. I attempt to put in a word to Pike on your behalf. If that doesn't work, here's my point: What are you gonna do about it?"

Karina's brow furrowed even more as she wrestled with a million different trains of thought.

"I guess I try to get to the bottom of it, no matter what I have to do," she mused.

Jim smiled and stood up. "That's what I like to hear!" He turned to leave. "I'd better get back before Bones bursts a blood vessel."

Karina ran after him. "But how do I do that, Jim? What more can I do?"

He turned back to her, then leaned down and whispered, "There's a paper with the combination digits to the transmission lab behind the loose brick on the right side of the door. Second column, fifth row from the bottom. No one is in there from at least nine at night to three in the morning. Night patrol comes by, they'll assume you're a cadet up late doing homework."

Karina stared at him. "How do you know that?"

He merely smirked at her. "I get around."

As he turned the corner toward the clinic, she closed the dorm door and leaned against it, her head still reeling. What had those crazy nuns gotten her into, signing her up for this?

* * *

As suspected, Bones' first words when Jim entered the clinic were, "What the hell took you so long?"

"I was offering Karina some assistance," Jim replied innocently.

Bones eyed him, then groaned. "Please, say you didn't…"

"He better not have," Camille muttered from the hospital bed.

Jim glanced from one of them back to the other. "Am I really so bad that you think I'd try anything on a fourteen-year-old girl?"

"Yes," they said simultaneously.

Jim rolled his eyes. "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

Bones took the medicine bottle, looked at it intently for a moment, and frowned. He turned to Camille.

"You say this is effective?"

She shrugged. "Generally, when I take it consistently."

"And do you?"

Her voice was taut. "Yes, Dr. McCoy, as it turns out, I do. I overslept today and I was late. And," her voice rose over his when he attempted to interrupt, "normally it works even if I only miss one time. I have been taking it consistently for over a year. I have no clue what happened this time. Exactly as I told you earlier. Happy now?"

Bones massaged his forehead. "Just jovial," he muttered. "I suggest you get some sleep, Miss Osbourne."

Turning to Jim, he shook his head. "Let's get out of here."

As soon as the door slammed, Bones said, "I'm cleaning up and then I need a drink, Jim. I'm trying to help her, dammit! How hard is it for her to understand that?"

Jim shrugged. "You open for my thoughts on this?"

"I'd be open for any thoughts, as long as they aren't hers. I know very well what she thinks on the matter."

"She gets that you're trying to help her. She isn't stupid," Jim told him.

"Evidently," Bones muttered.

Jim eyed him, then groaned. "What did she do?"

"The little minx tried to escape! When I wasn't looking she bolted for the door!" Bones sank into a chair, as though recalling the experience exhausted him. "I swear, Jim, that girl is a menace!"

Jim bit back a laugh.

"Please, Bones, tell me you didn't violate the Hippocratic Oath. I couldn't handle it."

"Oh, come down off it. I simply escorted her back to her bed."

"And…she didn't go willingly?"

"How do you know so much about the events of my day?"

"You have the first symptoms of a black eye, Bones. It's not that hard to figure out who put it there."

Bones made a guttural noise, and Jim snorted. Had he actually just growled?

"So what did you do after that?"

"I may or may not have slung her over my shoulder," Bones admitted.

Jim stared at him for a moment, then started laughing so hard he practically rolled on the floor. Bones glared at him. Breathless, Jim motioned for him to go on. Accepting defeat, Bones obliged.

"She demanded I not touch her. I told her I would touch her in any way or manner that my professional judgement indicated."

Calmed down enough to speak, Jim rasped, "I bet she loved that."

"I didn't actually catch what she said next. I believe it was something about how if she was still a minor, I would be in prison faster than I could blink."

Jim clapped his friend on the shoulder. "You, sir, do need a drink. Let's get going."

Bones protested. "I have to lock up first."

"Are you kidding, Bones? This place is almost pristine! And I know you're a doctor, but don't lecture me on the whole germs thing. I may vomit. All over the sanitation station."

Bones almost smiled. "Sounds like a threat to me."

"I don't think you want to see whether I'll follow through on it, either."

"Nope. After you."


	9. Chapter 9

**As a note, _Beyond:_ Yes, there were tears, many of them. Still loved it, though!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I do not own James T. Kirk, Leonard McCoy, or Christopher Pike. I only own Camille and Karina. Though I imagine they would protest the term "own." Enjoy!**

* * *

At the knock on the door, Captain Christopher Pike looked up from his desk. Any distraction from the endless amount of paperwork was a welcome one. He wasn't the desk-job type, per se. Could he handle it? For a time. But the amount of time he was required to do so was bordering on heinous.

"Kirk. You wanted to see me."

"Yes, sir," Kirk replied.

"What's the problem?" Pike was a bit hesitant about this. He'd taken a risk, insisting Jim Kirk join Starfleet. He still believed the kid could go places, he just wasn't sure how Kirk himself felt about it. So while he put up a calm front, all the while, Pike was hoping that this wasn't a cop-out on Kirk's part. He'd known cadets with even more potential to drop out their first week.

"There's a cadet in xenolinguistics, sir, who thinks she's picked up a hostile Romulan signal," Jim began.

"I've heard. Cadet Bartowski, wasn't it?"

Frowning, Jim replied, "Yes, sir. You know about her suspension?"

"Word crossed my desk the minute it happened. It may have slipped your notice, but I'm the head of the Academy," Pike said, not sharply. "I know when my cadets have been reprimanded."

Jim nodded. "And you think this is fair? I mean, she's proved that she's one of the best at her trade. She hasn't stuck her neck out for attention before now. Why suspend her? Why not at least look into it?"

Pike leaned back in his chair and sighed. "Honestly, Kirk? I have no idea what to tell you. She may be under my jurisdiction, but I barely know the girl. Also, every instructor has their individual right to suspend a cadet or not. Stark was just doing what he thought was appropriate for the situation."

"But just because he thought it was, does that mean his word is suddenly law?"

"Incidentally, yes! And you as a cadet questioning that is stepping over a very thin line!" Pike's voice rose in volume, and Jim's mouth, for once, snapped shut.

Pike rubbed his forehead as though nursing a headache and sighed. "Kirk, I appreciate what you're trying to do here. And I'm sure Cadet Bartowski would, as well. But since I have no way of proving that she isn't just seeking attention, my hands are tied here." Pike rose to dismiss him. "I wish I could help you out. I really do. But it's just not possible for me."

"Sir, if he could just – "

"You are dismissed, Cadet Kirk."

Mouth set in a firm line, showing anything but resignation, Jim stalked out of the office. He wasn't done rooting for the underdog quite yet. Over his dead body was Karina's suspension being held out any longer.

* * *

"So there's nothing he can do?" Agustin asked Karina. He'd offered to meet up with her after class was over, so she could stay caught up on what they were doing. Attractive _and_ considerate? Karina could get used to this.

"Nothing he _will_ do, anyway," Karina muttered, glancing at his notes. Orion peace transmissions? Easy. She could do them in her sleep.

" _Ay_ ," Agustin muttered. "I wish I could do anything, but if this Kirk guy doesn't have any clout with the captain, I highly doubt I would."

"Well, thanks," Karina said. "It means a lot."

She rose. "Listen, I've got to get to the clinic. Dr. McCoy has an idea of what's up with Camille, and she wanted me there."

He tilted his head. "Couldn't you stick around a little while? I want to ask you something."

Karina pondered the idea. She did have about fifteen minutes, and the clinic wasn't unreasonably far away. She could spare five. Allowing herself to stare at him for a couple of seconds, she found herself getting lost in the depth that was Agustin. His classic Spanish features, his deep brown eyes, his –

"Karina?"

She shook her head. Apparently seconds had turned into minutes. Karina sat back down, mortified to feel her cheeks turning red.

"Yeah. What did you want to ask?"

He leaned forward. "You don't strike me as the kind to just sit back and let something happen. Are you just going to let this slide by?"

Karina drummed her fingers on the table, debating how much to tell him.

"Honestly, Agustin, I've always been a bit of a passive person. I haven't really ever pushed the ticket. And let's face it, this would be a _massive_ ticket pusher. I don't know if I have the guts to do anything about it. Really, I don't."

He nodded.

"That's it, really," he told her.

A little disappointed, Karina tilted her head to one side. "That's it?"

"Si," he said, rising. "If you aren't going to do anything, I won't stop you or encourage you. I'll just be okay with that decision."

Karina stared at him.

"You're being really, really vague. Do you know that?"

He shrugged. "That's all. Isn't simplicity a good thing?"

The look he gave her was reminiscent of puppy-eyes, but not quite. Something told her Agustin didn't quite have the puppy-eye ability in him. He was a charming devil, certainly. She couldn't help but give in to it.

"Yeah, yeah I guess it is."

As she walked away, she couldn't shake the feeling she'd be disappointing him if she didn't act on it. She knew she would disappoint Jim, certainly. But she and Jim had only met briefly. Agustin was her friend. Her really, really attractive friend.

* * *

"You know, I really wish you would speak English!" Camille snapped. Where was Karina? The one thing Camille had noticed about her friend in the past month or so, was that she had a calming presence about her. Maybe she could tame the insufferable Dr. McCoy. And, for that matter, _translate_ him. Doctor-ese had to be in that repertoire of hers somewhere.

"It's called medical terminology. And with your condition, you should reasonably learn how to speak it." Bones was barely keeping his temper. He was extremely close to bursting a couple of blood vessels, and at the age of twenty-six, he was far too young for a stroke.

"How hard is it to just translate?" Camille demanded. "Forgive me if I don't understand the difference between a compound fracture and melanoma!"

"Okay. That's just sad," came a voice from the door. Jim Kirk poked his head in, Karina right behind him.

"Get out," both doctor and patient demanded.

Jim and Karina raised their arms in surrender and backed away.

"Not you, Karina. Jim. OUT!" Camille demanded.

Jim mock-saluted and made his exit. Karina walked in, eyebrow raised. "Do you really not know the - ?"

"Of course I know the difference, Kar. I was making a point," Camille muttered, suddenly wondering why she had been so desperate for Karina to arrive.

Karina took a seat beside the table and turned to Bones. "So, what have I missed, Dr. McCoy?"

Bones took a deep breath and tried to translate what he'd said into terms a ten-year-old could understand.

"Something in the medicine you've been taking has been causing your episodes," he said. "You've heard of morphine?"

Camille nodded. "Didn't Civil War veterans who had been wounded sometimes become addicted to it and continue to take it unnecessarily?"

He raised his eyebrows, his expression clearly saying, "There you have it."

The spark of anger ignited again, Camille exploded, "Hold on. I'm not – "

"Dammit, girl, that's not what I meant!" Bones exclaimed, his temper finally pushed to breaking point. "I wasn't saying you're consciously taking it unnecessarily. In fact, I'm not even sure if it isn't necessary for you to take it! I'm just saying, it's a possibility. All right?"

Camille's muscles tensed up, her chest rising and falling raggedly, as though her frustration was bringing on another attack. Karina really wanted to say something soothing, but telling Cam to breathe might just push her friend to take away her ability to do so.

"So what are you saying?" Camille demanded.

"I'm saying that what's in this medicine is potentially killing you. Your lungs might have healed up to this point, but whatever is in this – a form of morphine, by the way – is possibly playing heck with them. Do I know? I can't tell. I could if you would let me – "

"I refuse," Camille muttered, her teeth grinding.

"Okay, someone please fill me in, already!" Karina exclaimed. "You refuse to what?"

"I won't let him take an x-ray of my torso." Camille growled.

"I know your reasons," Bones said, his veins actually bulging. "And I would like to reiterate my professional opinion: They are ridiculous."

"Stuff it where the sun doesn't shine, buster!"

The clipboard Bones had been holding snapped in half – which, considering its design was supposed to be impervious to such a thing, was impressive. His entire body trembling, his face turning red, he choked out two words with every ounce of hostility he could muster.

"Get. Out."

Camille rose up off the bed faster than a bullet.

"All too gladly, Doctor. Let's go, Karina."

Karina, who had also risen, looked after her friends' retreating back to Dr. McCoy. He stood there for a few seconds, still shaking, then sank into a chair, rubbing his contorted forehead, completely drained.

"Tell your friend," he told Karina, "that whether she believes it or not, I actually am trying to help her. But if she'd rather just give in to this, that's not my problem. I'll let her die if she wants."

Karina stood there for a few moments, just looking at him.

"Will you?"

His head snapped up and she flinched, but she hadn't incurred his wrath, just curiosity.

"What?"

Karina looked him dead in the eyes, because quite frankly, this was a question she needed answers.

"Will you just stand back and let her die if she wants?"

He stared her down, and what was in his flint-gray eyes spoke of danger, but perhaps not an imminent one.

"She's my patient. It's her decision, there is nothing I can do."

Karina looked away and nodded. "I suppose not," she said. "I'm just tired of hearing people say that."

Bones eyed her. She didn't look like much, this kid. She certainly didn't have the fiery spirit her friend did. And in that moment, she looked very beaten down by the world. Jim had told him a bit about Karina Bartowski. And in that instant, all Bones wanted to do was give this kid hope that there was still some good out there, that not everything ended unfairly, and that sometimes stubborn people could change their ways.

If only he believed it himself. How could he give her that hope if he didn't have any of it left to give?

"Tell you what, kid," he said. "If she comes back in here and tolerates my presence for more than five minutes, I'll keep helping her. But I have to believe she actually wants it. Sound like a deal?"

Karina's head rose as she looked up at him. The danger had been replaced with something. Something ultimately very trustworthy. She knew in that instant she'd do everything she could to help this man, to help Camille.

And to help Starfleet.

"Okay," she said. "I'll go grab her."

Bones shook his head. "I'm about to close up here. Night shift's coming, but they're only for emergencies. Tell her to come back tomorrow."

"Thank you, Dr. McCoy."

Bones almost laughed, his eyebrows raised and a corner of his mouth quirking up.

"Don't thank me yet. I still might strangle her eventually," he muttered.

Karina smiled, lingering just slightly in the doorway.

"I wouldn't blame you," she said. "Not at all."


	10. Chapter 10

**Good evening, my lovely readers! I know I'm updating a bit earlier in the week than normal, but I'm going out of town this weekend and am therefore not sure what the Wi-Fi situation is going to be. So I wanted to make sure y'all got the same amount of reading that you normally do. And, on the off-chance that I _do_ have Wi-Fi...You may be getting an extra chapter this week! **

**Anyway, this chapter is a bit short, but it advances several plot lines just slightly. Hope you enjoy! Please review - but for the love of the Federation, please be gentle! I feel a bit weak asking for it, but these _are_ my babies. **

**And another huge thank you to those of you who have stuck with Camille and Karina thus far!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or any of its characters, I only own my OCs.**

* * *

The door slammed with the force of an 8.5 on the Richter scale, and in San Francisco, it wasn't that far-fetched of an assumption. However, the glare Camille received when Karina stormed in was not exactly relieving.

She might have preferred the earthquake.

" _Was zum Teufel_ was that?" Karina exploded, her expression one that could melt stone.

"I don't understand German, Kar," Camille told her, fighting to keep her voice steady. Try as she might, Karina was not intimidating in the least, but Camille had yet to see her roommate get angry. It may not have been frightening, but it sure as heck wasn't pleasant.

"Yeah, well clearly German isn't the only thing you don't understand," Karina growled, planting her feet firmly in an attempt to make her point. "That man is trying to help you. What has McCoy done that makes you question that he is different from those jerks who wouldn't give you a second glance?"

Camille sat there, silently fuming because she knew Karina was right. Was she about to admit it? Not hardly. A cold silence permeated the air between the two girls. Neither was about to cave.

Karina could barely handle the tension. She hated conflict, always had. But this was necessary, and so help her, she would not break. Thinking she would pass out if she held the quiet much longer, she said,

"He doesn't try to drive you insane, Camille. He is sincerely attempting to find a cure. Are you really going to pass that up?"

That was all she could think of to say. She'd had an entire rant planned out before she got here, a rant that was sure to put her friend in her place, but it had all flown out her head like doves at a wedding.

It was enough. Camille looked down.

"I know I got a little out of control back there." Karina snorted, and Camille raised an eyebrow to silence her. "Okay, a lot out of control. And honestly, I don't know what came over me. I know he wants to help me. I know I need it, desperately. I guess it's just…"

Camille let out a huge, pent-up breath. Admitting that she was in the wrong was not an easy task.

"…It's just hard for me to get past the memories." They came rushing back to her in an instant, the same damning prognosis, given by doctors with lifeless eyes who viewed her in the most dehumanizing way she could imagine.

Camille visibly shuddered, and Karina's glare softened a bit. She sat down on the bed next to her.

"But not impossible?" she asked, gently prodding. Camille looked over at her, unsure of how to respond, then smiled.

"I don't think so," she said. Sighing, Camille shook her head. "All right, fine. I'll go back in the morning. Happy?"

Karina frowned. "Not quite. Will you at least cooperate with Dr. McCoy now?"

Camille nodded.

"I promise, he won't have _too_ many more problems from me. Is that better?"

Karina grinned from ear to ear, obviously far too pleased with herself. "Much," she commented, practically flouncing over to her dresser. "Well, I don't know about you, but I personally found that exhausting. What do you say we turn in for the night?"

Camille stared at her. "How do you change moods so quickly? Have you had that checked out yet?"

Karina, who had migrated to the bathroom, poked her head around the corner. "Really? Have _I_ had that checked out yet?"

Camille laughed, getting to her feet and grabbing her own pajamas. "All right, all right. Point taken."

* * *

"Has the girl been successfully silenced?"

The agent stared down his Romulan employer. "I have not been able to make certain of it yet, sir."

"What is taking so long? Either get her out of the picture or I will personally come to Earth and do it for you! And if I have to take matters into my own hands, the deal is off! You will have no share in the glory to come. Am I clear?"

The agent cringed. "Definitely, sir. Remarkably so."

"Good. Now do your job. We need that weapons system. Make sure there is no way they can possibly recreate it."

"Already far ahead of you, sir."

* * *

"You want me to what?"

Camille attempted to keep any trace of difficulty out of her voice, but this she simply could not believe. What McCoy was asking of her was life-threatening at best, suicide at worst.

"Go a week without taking your medication. I'm just curious to see what happens."

"Curious?" she barked, feeling the physical strain of keeping things civil. "With all due respect, Dr. McCoy, we're talking about my life here!"

"I know," he said. "Don't think I'm just playing with you here. For a day we'll monitor you in the clinic here, so we can be close by in case anything serious happens. If you make it through a day and a half without an episode, we'll let you go about your business for a week. Until then, I want you to slowly wean yourself off the medication. How many doses do you normally take a day?"

"Two," Camille told him, hating how small her voice sounded.

"So for now, I'd like you to go down to once a day for about two weeks. After that, once every other day for the same amount of time. I think after that, it should be sufficient enough that you won't go into massive withdrawal being completely cut off. Do you think you can manage that?"

Camille was torn between being irked at his last statement, said with just the barest hint of sarcasm, and being reasonable, reminding herself that her life was in this man's hands. Twelve years was a relatively short amount of time, and she wasn't nearly ready to go yet. On top of that, she had a feeling this condition was trying to take her early. Time was bearing down on her like a truck at top-speed.

"All right," she said. "I'll do it."

He nodded.

"You won't have to start until tomorrow," he said. "I'd recommend taking the evening doses, but it's ultimately your choice."

Camille swallowed the lump forming in her throat. No turning back now, not even if she wanted to.


	11. Chapter 11

**I am back, and so is Breathe!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. I only own my OCs.**

Yes, it was cheesy, but Karina felt like black was a good color to wear for a night expedition that could result in impending doom. She felt like most people wouldn't consider expulsion from Starfleet doom, but if it wasn't, it was at least a close second. She was not going back to the abbey.

She was trying to be as quiet as possible. Fortunately, Camille slept like the dead. The expression in her head gave Karina pause, and she slipped beside Camille's bed just to make sure her friend was still breathing. Every time she'd gotten up in the middle of the night since that first episode, Karina had done this. She didn't want to be sleeping when Camille had another incident.

So she was caught completely off guard when a hand reached out from the bed and grabbed her by the shirt collar.

"Just what do you think you're doing, young lady?"

"I – I – " Karina stuttered a few more syllables then finally gave in. "Fine. I'm going to see if I can pick up on that signal again."

Camille's eyes narrowed at a dangerous rate. "Are you insane?"

"Maybe," Karina muttered. Thinking on the matter, she amended, "Probably."

Camille stared at her for a few minutes, then half smiled. "That's my girl."

Karina sat in stunned silence for a moment as Camille released her grip on her collar.

"Wait, what? So you're not going to try to stop me?"

Camille shrugged, sitting up in bed. "Why would I? As far as I can tell, you're doing the right thing here. If you're positive someone is planning to attack Starfleet, then you can hardly sit by and do nothing. And if you're not, then you can hardly stay here and toss and turn about it. And yes, don't think I haven't noticed the little amount of sleep you've been getting lately."

Karina's jaw dropped. Camille looked far too proud of herself for that one.

"Okay, fine. You caught me," Karina muttered.

Camille practically shooed her out the door. "Go save the Academy, my little spy."

Karina's brow furrowed. "Is it that bad?"

"You're wearing all black. You don't think it's a tad bit suspicious?"

"I thought it fitting."

"Point taken. I suppose it is. Just try to not draw too much attention, Agent 99," Camille said, laying back on the bed.

Karina went to leave, then poked her head back in.

"You are freaky good at pretending to be asleep, you know that?"

Camille merely waved her off.

Creeping along the corridor and up two flights of stairs, Karina finally made it to the transmission rooms. Looking for the loose brick Jim had told her about, she removed it and found the card that served as the room's key. Sliding it through the lock, she breathed a sigh of relief when it opened. Stepping through the door, she received an electric shock upon entry.

Biting her hand to keep from crying out, Karina leapt back out into the hallway. A hologram came up in front of the door.

 _An unauthorized personnel scan has been activated. Prepare to answer a series of questions pertaining to the purpose of this room. If you do not answer the questions in a timely manner, an alarm will sound. Best of luck._

Dang. Even the alarm system was sarcastic. Karina could practically _hear_ the quotation marks around the last sentence.

 _The questions will slowly increase in difficulty. Question #1: Translate 'glass' to Vulcan._

" _Kt'a'vre_ ," Karina replied, hoping she was speaking loud enough to register but quiet enough to not draw attention.

 _Correct. Question #2: Translate 'warship' in Rihansu._

Inwardly cringing at the simplicity, Karina said, " _Mosarum_."

 _Question #3: Insult a Klingon in his native language._

Karina snorted, then covered her mouth and nose, glancing about to make sure no one had seen. What was the worst insult she could give a Klingon? Considering the pride they took in their ridged foreheads…and, for that matter, their mothers…

" _Hab SoSli' Quch_!"Your mother has a smooth forehead. Brilliant insult. She'd have to use that someday.

 _Access granted. Please stand in the doorway until told otherwise._

Gritting her teeth, Karina obliged. She had a job to do, and the sooner she did, the better, but she really had no desire to be zapped again. Her hair still felt like it was sizzling at the ends.

A blue line descended from the top of the door. Karina flinched when it reached the top of her head, but she felt nothing, not even the slightest tingling sensation. It ran over her entire body twice, then the hologram appeared in front of her again.

 _You have been successfully entered into our recognition sensors. Your questions will get progressively harder until you have been granted access at least three times. Once again, we wish you the best of luck._

Yeesh. Apparently the person who automated this thing was either the nicest or most sarcastic human being for two thousand years.

Karina slipped into the room, glancing around to make sure it was truly vacated. She'd knew how to turn the transmitters on, but had no idea whether they turned themselves on quietly. It would be fabulous if they did, but she counted on no such luck.

Entering the code and turning the knob, she held her breath…

* * *

Camille had tried going back to sleep after Karina left, but she found it to be impossible. She really was worried about her young friend. The coffee shop would be closed at two in the morning, but they had a manual station open 24/7. Though she realized coffee was an awful idea, considering she actually wanted to get some sleep, she thought maybe some hot chocolate would do her good.

Rounding the corner, she paused when she saw a very familiar figure sitting at one of the tables set up, surrounded by stacks of paperwork. He looked up and his mouth tightened.

"Relax, Doctor," she said. "I'm not going to light into you just for existing."

"Really?" he muttered. "Could've fooled me."

"I admitted I was a little out of line, didn't I?" she asked, exasperated. "What more do you want from me?"

He shrugged. She attempted to work some of the tension out of her shoulders as she turned to the Keurig. Just her luck. Not only did she seem to run into him everywhere she turned, but when she even attempted to keep things civil, he had to go and rile her up.

Bones stared at her, standing there rigid as a post. He shook his head and let himself smile a little. Stubborn girl, that one. He marveled at her ability to strike intimidation into a man. She couldn't have been more than five foot one, and yet she'd gotten the better of him at least twice in the time he'd known her. Maybe it was when the sparks flew from her eyes, that was what got him –

Mentally smacking himself, Bones returned to glaring down at the paper in front of him. What was he doing? He had studying to do, here.

Camille finished preparing her drink and warily approached his table. Figuring it would be rude to just sit at another table, she pulled up a chair. When he made no snide comment, she breathed a sigh of relief.

Seeing that there was no room for her to place her cup down, she scanned the cluttered tabletop. "What is all this, anyway?"

Letting out a huge sigh, Bones leaned back in his chair. "The medical cadets have an exam tomorrow on procedures in space. Turns out it's a bit different than what I'm used to."

"How so?"

"There's so much politics involved, it's maddening! If I'm trying to save someone's life when they have a massive case of Vulcan influenza – which is even worse than Spanish influenza, by the way – I'm not going to be thinking about whether they are under my jurisdiction as a physician!"

"Wouldn't everyone on the ship be under your jurisdiction?"

"Technically, but only if I'm the chief medical officer. Which is highly unlikely at this point in time for at least another five years. So what happens if the chief medical officer is incapacitated?"

"You take over?"

"Yeah, you'd think that, wouldn't you?" he muttered, smacking the paper he was holding in consternation.

"What's wrong with that?" Camille asked.

"Turns out in order to take over as chief medical officer, you need express permission from the captain or acting captain. So say I don't have time to get ahold of said captain. Say I need to operate, stat. You do what you have to do, but not according to this crap. It says if you take over without being appointed, you're susceptible to all kinds of lawsuits."

Camille frowned. "But that's ridiculous!"

"Tell me something I don't know, girl."

The way he addressed her as "girl" really irked Camille. She might be small, but that didn't make her immature. And just because he was a grown man, and really tall, and _extremely_ fine-muscled…well, that didn't give him any right to demean her!

But at the moment, she was more concerned about what he was telling her regarding Starfleet's procedures.

"You can't just let someone die because of protocol!" she exclaimed. "They have to have a loophole somewhere, right?"

"Once again, you'd think," Bones muttered. "But turns out no, they would rather avoid legalities than save one of their officer's lives."

Camille, completely dumbfounded, shook her head and crossed her arms, the empty cup lying forgotten on top of his notes. Bones eyed her. Her irritation confused him.

"Why are you so affected by this?" he asked. "It doesn't affect your moral compass at all."

Camille shrugged, attempting to pass it off as nothing. When his gray eyes gave her that pressing look, however, she relented. "I guess I just always thought Starfleet was better than all these politics. They were…I don't know, nobler, I guess."

Bones snorted. "Noble? I always thought nobility was dead, personally."

Camille's shock was evident. "But if you think nobility is dead…"

He waited, but she trailed off, looking as though she regretted everything she'd just said.

"Go on."

Camille kicked herself. Why was it that she couldn't control her tongue around this man, no matter whether she was angry, scared, or even, dare she admit it, admiring the man.

"If you think nobility is dead, why are you helping me?"

Bones opened his mouth to respond, then hesitated. In all honesty, though he'd told her it had to do with his occupation, he had no idea. Realistically, it should have been as simple as that.

"I told you. It's what I do. I'm a doctor."

Camille wanted to press farther, but she figured she would let it go this time. Besides, she was started to feel the exhaustion set in. And unlike Karina, she actually had to go to class tomorrow.

Bones must have read her mind, because he said, "And as your doctor, I would recommend that you get your rest. You'll need it for the next few weeks."

Camille nodded. "I was just headed that way. Good night, Dr. McCoy."

Bones watched her go, his studying entirely forgotten.

* * *

…the machine turned on without a sound. Karina breathed a sigh of relief. Inserting the ear chip, she listened intently for the next hour without incidence.

Finally, a mix of boredom and nervousness making her increasingly jumpy, Karina was nearly ready to give up on this venture. She would almost welcome someone catching her at this point. At least giving a good excuse for being here would be a break in this monotony.

Just when she was about to detach the ear piece, Karina heard a blip. Not much, just a tiny break in the static that made her cram the device further into her ear to the point of pain.

She made out some words in Romulan, but nothing more. Straining to make sense of the conversation, she scanned the screen for a sign of where in the universe this transmission was coming from, but there was nothing. How could that be? If they could pick up the words, how could they not have a signal?

Slowly the static returned, and the transmission was lost. Karina listened desperately for another fifteen minutes, but nothing. She ripped the ear piece out in frustration, then sat back in the chair, her arms crossed and mouth contorted in exasperation. At least she'd gotten a signal of some kind, but what good was this crazy venture if she couldn't figure out where this signal was coming from? A threat to Starfleet was no threat if it was from a distant ship with minimal warp abilities.

And for that matter, how was she intending to prove this to her superiors? She couldn't exactly record whatever transmission she got. And they would not believe her if she had anything less. She already had one black dot on her record. Another and she would be gone for good.

Something clattered in the corner of the room. Karina leaped out of her seat and whirled.

"Hello?" she called, then cringed. According to Camille, that was the cheesiest thing a person could say in a horror film. Not that Karina knew. She'd never seen one of those in the abbey. Not if the nuns could help it.

There was complete silence. Karina blinked, attempting to clear her vision. It was growing blurry with exhaustion. Maybe she should just get to bed.


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. What I do own is some lovely merchandise pertaining to it, and my OCs. Enjoy Chapter 12!**

* * *

That conversation at the coffee station kept niggling at Camille the next few weeks, for various reasons, not the least of which was the matter of Starfleet's medical policy. That was the one she chose to dwell on. Every time she thought of how she and Dr. McCoy had actually had a civil conversation, however, she pushed it aside. All of their interactions from then on were very abrupt, cold, and formal.

Jim, meanwhile, was in his endearingly irritating element. He always opened conversation with, "So, how was your last visit to the clinic?" Camille would roll her eyes and growl, "Fine, Jim. Just like the last time you asked." And he would feign disappointment.

She had no clue what Jim was thinking in this venture of his. There was no chance of anything developing between her and Dr. McCoy, that much was certain. If it had nothing to do with the fact that she could hardly conduct herself normally in his presence, it had everything to do with her past. And his profession.

And then there was Karina. She'd been going to that transmission room every night for the past few weeks, even though she had been let back into class. And even during class she would secretly try to pick up on foreign transmissions, but had gotten nothing. Camille wondered when she would take the hint. Whatever threat she'd received was likely long gone.

The medication experiment hadn't caused any discrepancies so far. In fact, Camille felt like she had never breathed as freely. After about two weeks without incident, she would decrease her dosage even more, and while there were moderate withdrawal symptoms, there had been a recent serum developed that helped to nullify those. Camille would go in at the beginning of every week and receive a hypospray of the stuff, and it worked wonders. She had to admit, as much as she hated it, Dr. McCoy might know what he was doing.

As October turned to November, the cadets were given a week off to spend with their families for the holidays. Since Karina had nowhere to go but the abbey – where she would return over her dead body – Camille had invited her to visit her family in New York with her. It would be odd returning home. Starfleet had become familiar territory. Still, it would be nice to see her parents and talk with them about the development in her condition.

There was the just the small matter of whether they'd approve of her risking in her life in order to save it.

* * *

Jim offered to accompany the girls to the airport. Correction: He tagged along despite Camille's protests they didn't need an escort.

While Camille was checking them in for the shuttle, Jim pulled Karina aside.

"Have you found anything yet?"

She shook her head, the disappointment obvious on her face.

"It was probably just a passing threat," she said. "I don't know, Jim. I don't want to just give up on this, but…I don't think it's worth it."

Jim nodded. "And how's Captain Stark treating you?"

She groaned. "Like a second-class citizen! I don't get it, Jim! I make a simple mistake, and he treats me like a criminal who's been let loose on the world."

Jim frowned. "I want to help you here, but I don't really see how I can. I've already gone to Pike on your behalf once and could prove nothing. Would he listen to me again? I don't know, but I doubt it."

Karina's face fell even further.

"Jim, what am I going to do here? My hands are tied."

He reached out and took her shoulders.

"Hey, it's going to be okay. Maybe not now, but eventually. And what you do with this… Well, that's your choice, Karina. Good news is, you've got a week to think about it. I don't know why, but I think this'll be good for you."

Camille came up to them.

"Shuttle leaves in twenty," she said. "We got here just in time."

Camille, being a hugging sort of person, gave Jim a quick squeeze.

"See you in a week," she said. "Don't get yourself expelled for drunken indecency or anything over the weekend."

He saluted. "Yes, ma'am. And you keep an eye on this one," he said, wrapping an arm around Karina, whose eyes widened.

"I'll make sure she gets back in one piece," Camille said, turning toward the terminal.

Karina turned, then turned back to Jim. "Don't worry. Apparently she was born to fly."

Jim laughed. "I can see it. Something tells me she was born for a lot more than that."

Karina smiled, knowing he had full confidence that Bones could figure out what was wrong with Camille's lungs. The pair of them went their separate ways, both hoping that his friend would be able to save hers.

* * *

"So, what are our plans for this weekend, Bones?" Jim asked, flopping down on Bones' roommate's bed.

Bones cried out, startled, and sat up in bed. Flipping the light on, he shouted, "Good Lord, man! It's the middle of the night."

"Oh, come on, Bones. What better time for a pair of single men to discuss weekend plans than at 2 AM? Haven't you ever heard that nothing good happens after 2 AM? I intend to prove that statement completely wrong after we hit Yosemite. What do you say?"

Bones groaned and rolled over, pulling the pillow over his ears.

"Not interested, Jim. Not in the slightest."

Jim laid down on his stomach and peered at Bones for a few moments. When his friend didn't respond, he rolled over onto his back and looked up at the ceiling. Feigning resignation, he said, "If you won't help me plan this, Bones, I'm going to have to come up with it on my own. And then you'll have no choice as to what we're doing."

Still no response.

Undaunted as ever, Jim continued, "So we head up to Yosemite, right? I figure the best way to pick up some women there is to pretend we're avid skiers. Now, I have a type."

"What is it?" Bones muttered. "Anything that could wear a skirt and not be called a drag queen?"

"Oh look! He's alive!" Jim quipped. "And the answer to that question is I'm not picky. Now what's your type?"

That brought the pillow off Bones' head as he whipped around to stare at Jim. "What part of not interested wasn't clear to you? The only way you will get me in the same bed with a woman is if you get a few drinks into me first."

Jim pretended to contemplate this. "That can be arranged."

Bones glared at him. "Dammit, man, will you get out of my room already?"

Jim shook his head. "I'm not leaving until you tell me what this thing you have against the idea of women. Forget dating. I'm talking about even hooking up with one. Now, come on, Bones. I know you're a Southern gentleman, but you don't strike me as the type to be against a one-night stand. Curiosity is about to kill me, here. What's your deal?"

Bones rolled his eyes. The man was insatiable, like a Chihuahua with a chew toy.

"Are you actually attempting to have a deep conversation with me here, Jim? What, are we going to have a hug fest and sing Cumbaya when it's all over?"

Jim shrugged, his struggle to keep a straight face evident. "Well, only if you want to. Seriously, Bones, I'm not asking deep. Just a simple explanation."

Heaving a monstrous sigh, Bones finally sat up.

"My ex-wife cheated on me. I'm done with women, of any kind, for the moment. Are you satisfied?"

Once again, Jim shrugged. "I asked for simple, you gave me simple. Did she also try murdering you in your sleep or something?"

Bones raised an eyebrow. "Actually, yes."

Jim's demeanor, which was already serious, turned into one of shock. "You're kidding. You are kidding, right?"

Bones threw his hands up, not wishing to rehash the experience.

"Don't ask me where the woman got a phaser, let's just say I'm thankful she was a terrible shot. Long story short, I'm done with women for at least ten years. Which, knowing space, I'll be dead before then. Good night, Jim."

Drama queen, Jim thought as Bones made a show of sweeping the sheet back over his body and turned his back to Jim in the most deliberate manner. James Kirk may have been one to push the limits, but he also knew when pushing them was unnecessary. As he left, he gave Bones one final parting comment.

"So I'll get back to you about the skiing part, then?"

"Shut up, Jim."

Jim saluted his friend's form on the bed and made a hasty exit.


	13. Chapter 13

**Good morning! We get to meet some new characters in this chapter, one of whom will be popping up fairly often throughout the series. And another familiar face shows up, too! Hope y'all enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek.**

* * *

Camille hadn't been sure what to expect when she told her parents about this new development in her condition. Shock, certainly. Anger, perhaps. An overwhelming all-out forbidding that she continue in such a venture even though she was eighteen and perfectly capable of making her own decisions? Nothing less.

So when they just sat there, taking it in, she was the one experiencing the flooring sensation of surprise. Her mother nodded continually, a slight frown puckering her forehead and her lips pursed, but in a thoughtful manner, not a negative one. Her dad had his elbow propped on the table, his chin resting in his hand and an identical frown to Mom's on his face. Finally, he broke the silence.

"I would ask what makes him different from any of the other doctors you've refused to see, but I'd be answering my own question there," he said. "So, how's your breathing been since you started this…experiment?"

Camille let out a pent-up breath she truly hadn't noticed herself holding in.

"Decent," she said. "I've experienced a bit of difficulty when I'm exerting myself. But Dr. McCoy says that's to be expected, since my body has become accustomed to the medicine."

"And you're not exerting yourself too much, are you?" Mom asked, her brow unknitting just the slightest degree.

Camille shrugged. "No more than necessary, but one of these days I'm going to have to. The life of a weapons officer on a starship isn't exactly a quiet one."

"And when that comes," Dad interjected, "you won't want to have an attack during a battle."

Camille nodded, giving him a weak smile. Dad had always understood exactly what she was thinking before she even said it. Over the day she'd been here, she had experienced a pervading sense that her dad, while he would have preferred her to stay in the military, wasn't disappointed with her decision to join Starfleet. He'd wanted to hear all about how things were going, with both her and Karina. Though he hadn't exactly been shocked to hear about their less-than-noble dealings she'd discovered, he also hadn't been derogatory toward them in any way. When she'd questioned him about it, he simply shrugged.

"I guess it's just the fact that you're there," he said. "Before I could talk smack about it all I wanted. But I just can't bring myself to insult or even think badly of an institution my daughter is a part of. Besides," he added, gesturing to the polluted air outside, "look at what's happening to our planet. It's slowly deteriorating, but getting faster by the minute. One day, who knows? I may be grateful Starfleet explored the universe."

He'd then smiled at Karina. "And to tell you the truth, I haven't met a cadet yet who wasn't as decent as I'd hope your peers to be."

Karina had smiled, pleased, but also tilted her head in confusion. "Who have you met besides me, sir?"

He'd shrugged. "No one. Is that a problem?"

Now he sat in front of Camille in complete silence. She was grateful to know he understood what _she_ was thinking, but she wanted to know his thoughts. She wasn't sure if they would affect her decision any, in fact, with the way things were going, she was sure it wouldn't. But at least having her parents' approval would be spectacular.

And from the way he started nodding, she figured that was pretty much where he was headed.

"Yeah, Cam," he said, stroking his chin in the thinker-style, "I think you need to do this. Better to know whether it works while you're being closely monitored. If it means longer life to you, then so much the better. And you trust Dr. McCoy?"

Trying to formulate some kind of answer to that, she must have been taking a longer amount of time than she thought. Her mother clearly was impatient.

"Sweetheart, if you don't trust your physician…" Mom began.

"I do, actually," Camille said, and she was shocked to register that it was true. "He's certainly the most trustworthy of his profession that I've met."

When her mom narrowed her eyebrows a tad bit, Camille added with a slight edge to her voice, "He's already saved my life once, Mom. I think I owe him as much as my trust, don't you?"

* * *

Karina sat on the couch in the other room, just barely able to hear Cam's conversation with her parents. Both girls had decisions to make, but Karina had no parents to advise her on such a matter. Camille did. It was for this that Karina was listening to the Osbournes' talk and nibbling her nails down to the quick, attempting to quash the feelings of jealousy that rose.

So they approved of Camille's venture. Great. Would her parents have approved of hers? Karina could barely remember her parents, but she knew one thing: Anthony and Linda Bartowski had been the best at their job, for the short time they'd possessed it. So she was sure if they were alive now, they'd be able to steer her in the right direction.

Karina was so sure she'd heard something. And one didn't just casually talk about attacking a Federation base. And what was this new plan she'd heard them - ?

Suddenly she sat bolt upright, all desire for parental advice forgotten. The weapons. The new weapons system Cam had told her about. Gone on and on about, was more like it. Soon to be "the most advanced known in the galaxy", or something like that. Karina had begun to tune her out after about the fifth time. Suddenly it all made sense, and quite frankly, it was the _only_ thing that made sense, unless there was something Starfleet Command didn't want out in the open. For some unknown reason, the Romulans wanted Starfleet's weapons system.

Hating to interrupt the family meeting, but just unable to contain her discovery, she burst in, making Mrs. Osbourne jump out of her seat.

"The weapons, Cam! They're after the weapons!"

Camille frowned, not quite registering what she was talking about at first. Then her jaw slackened as it dawned on her.

"The Romulan transmission?"

"Yeah! They're after the new system!"

Camille leaped up, beginning to pace. Her mother looked like she was about to protest, then was stopped by Mr. Osbourne's hand on her arm. Camille stopped dead in her tracks and looked at Karina.

"That would explain why there hasn't been a transmission for weeks! Someone must have leaked to them that the system isn't nearly ready."

"But who? Who would – " Karina paused, then sank down into a chair. "Stark."

Camille tilted her head to one side. "What about him?"

"He was so determined that signal wasn't real. He suspended me to make sure word didn't get out!" Karina cried, her facial muscles tensing, showing her anger. Camille grabbed her shoulders.

"Don't be angry, Karina! You've found out what's going on!"

Karina shook her head. "I still don't have proof, though. No officer would believe me, much less any admiral or captain with more authority than Stark."

Camille let the point sit. It was a valid one. Then she took her seat again. "You're right. But do you realize what this means? You can't stop now. You've got to keep going in. You've got to keep listening. You have to find him out."

Mr. Osbourne interjected, "Would someone please inform us what, exactly, is going on here?"

Karina explained the transmission she had received, her suspension, and her dilemma.

"And now I have my answer. There is a legitimate threat. Whether anyone believes me or not, I have to go back in. There isn't another option I can take with a clear conscience."

Mrs. Osbourne, who had been listening and couldn't quite believe someone would let a fourteen-year-old girl get caught up in such a scheme, shook her head and rose.

"Well, I think you'd be making the right decision to not just let this sit, Karina. But you are on holiday, and I expect you to act as such. There's plenty of time for plotting your strategy after Thanksgiving. Now, who wants pie?"

Amid Mr. Osbourne's avid approval and Camille's insistence that Thanksgiving wasn't for another two days, Karina felt a weight lift off her shoulders. Yes, she wouldn't worry about this until she was back in California. But once she got there, she wouldn't rest until her purpose was accomplished.

* * *

Jim was roused from his sleep when the alarm began barking right in his ear.

Groaning, he rose. He could appreciate Starfleet wanting their people well protected, but placing speakers right by the head of their beds was going a bit too far. Suddenly he tuned in to the cadence of the blast. If it had been a drill, it would have been one long, drawn out screech after another. This was a series of three sharp, staccato beeps followed by a small silence.

This wasn't a drill.

Pulling a shirt over his head, Jim made for the door, then fell in with the other cadets headed outside. Spying Bones, he wound his way through the crowd until he was striding side by side with him.

"You know what's up here?"

Bones shook his head.

"Apparently someone broke into the weapons lab and the transmission lab," he said. Looking at Jim with concern in his eyes, he said, "Karina went with Camille…"

Jim nodded. "There's only one explanation for this, then. The attack that she predicted. This was an attempt."

Someone else bumped into Jim, and he recognized the girl who had grabbed Camille before she'd fallen during her episode. She looked as though she had something urgent to say.

"They're probably after the weapons system," she told him. Jim snorted.

"Like they'll find anything," he muttered. "That system isn't even anywhere close to being finished. It'll be fine." Eyeing her up and down and noticing she wasn't bad-looking, he stuck out a hand. "Jim Kirk, by the way."

Bones rolled his eyes. "Unbelievable," he muttered. "The middle of an evacuation, and the kid's still flirting."

The girl narrowed her eyes. "Juliet Harper," she replied. "Nice try, but I've got a boyfriend."

"Well, then why'd you condescend so far as to give me your name?" Jim asked. Her eyes widened, and then she gave him a glare worthy of...well, Camille. Jim winked and turned back to Bones. "And now for the convenient picking-up of the pace…"

Bones stared at him. "Unbelievable," he repeated. "You had a strategy of escape there?"

"Trust me, you need one in any situation like this," Jim said, as they left Juliet in the dust.

Juliet glared after them, then shook her head, staring down at the ground. Someone appeared on her left, looking at her.

"You don't actually have a boyfriend, do you?" the stranger asked.

Her head snapping up, Juliet almost admonished him to mind his own business, but for some reason refrained. "How did you know?"

"Your reaction, mostly. I figured a girl who'd told the truth there would have continued glaring or moved on. You? You looked down. It means you either are experiencing shame or having painful memories. Either way, it's not a far-fetched assumption to say that means you weren't being entirely truthful."

Juliet tilted her head, not quite offended, but mostly intrigued.

"How can you read a person that easily?"

He shrugged.

"It's just something I've always been able to do. Not really that big of a deal to me. But I get it if it's a little creepy for you. Sorry if I – "

"No, no, you're fine," she said. "I just wondered. Anyway, you were right. I don't. Not anymore, anyways." Holding her hand out, she said, "I'm Juliet. Juliet Harper."

He smiled and shook it.

"I heard. Hikaru Sulu."

* * *

"There was a _what_?" Karina practically squeaked. Camille smirked from her spot at the kitchen table, and Karina gave her a look.

"You heard me, Kari. An invasion. An attack. Whatever you want to call it. Either way, I went in to Captain Pike and asked him if this was proof enough," Jim said on the other end of the phone.

"And?"

"He said it was at least some proof," Jim continued. "Your trustworthiness has been reestablished for the moment. However, just letting you know, there's potential that if they catch you in the transmission lab again, they'll think it was you staging something."

"What if I told them - ?" Karina paused, thinking it over. Would this actually score her more points with the higher-ups, or would it make her seem like more of an attention-seeker?

"If you told them what?" Jim prodded. He probably seemed a little rough, but hey, she had prodded him incessantly throughout this entire conversation. She could stand with a little of her own medicine, insatiable kid.

Karina related to him all that she and Camille had figured out. There was a moment of silence from the other end of the line.

"You're sure it's him?" Jim asked, the doubt evident in his voice. Karina suppressed a grunt of irritation. Wasn't he the one who'd told her about how to be a kid officer of Starfleet, you had to be extremely capable? How people didn't always see past that, and it drove him crazy? Then she shook her head. He was just being cautious. She would have done the same thing, though she wouldn't have doubted him for an instant.

"Give it 70 percent chance that I'm sure?" she said, realizing she even doubted herself in this scenario.

She could practically see his face, mouth set, eyebrows knitted, thinking it over.

"Okay, just…you'll probably need more proof before you even think of taking it to his superiors."

"I know that, Jim. I know. I just want all of this over with, honestly. I don't _want_ Stark to get in trouble, surprisingly. Not if it isn't him doing it," she said.

"And I know _that_. I never thought you were just being a drama queen, Kar. Not for an instant."

Karina frowned. "What did you call me?"

"When? Earlier or just now?"

"Both."

"Kar. Kari. It just seems to fit you," he said. "That's okay, right?"

Karina nodded, realizing it was a lost gesture. "Oh, no, it's perfectly fine. It's just…no one's called me Kari since…" her voice trailed off. When it returned, it was small as a raindrop. "My dad."

This yielded the longest silence yet from Jim. Karina hoped she hadn't made him think she was offended. She was the farthest thing from offended. It felt so good to be called by her old nickname. It gave her a sense of…

Family.

"I'm okay with you calling me that, just so you know," she told him. "It just kind of caught me off guard, I guess."

"Okay. Hey, what time is it there?"

"About six."

"I'd better let you get to dinner, then. It is Thanksgiving, after all."

She smiled. "Thanks for keeping me updated, Jim."

"No problem, Kari. See you when you get back."

She hung up, still smiling, and looked over at Camille. For a moment she was half-worried her lingering grin would give Camille the wrong idea, but the older girl simply hugged her. She knew. They were basically her family, the two of them. Like the older siblings she'd never had.

As she ate with the Osbourne family, Karina thought of how accurate it was that it was Thanksgiving. She did happen to be grateful for a lot of things this year.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: A new chapter is up! More sad Bones backstory! More Karina being a dork around cute boys! More Romulans! And...what the heck is up with Captain Stark? Enjoy and review (gently)!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek**

Camille knocked on the door of the clinic.

"Are you open yet?"

Bones looked up, shocked to see her in so early. "Yeah, actually. Come on in."

She walked in and took a seat on the table without having to be coerced. What had happened over the break? He stood there, wondering if he should make conversation or get right to business examining her. Awkwardly clearing his throat, Bones muttered, "How was your Thanksgiving?"

Camille smiled. "It was great. My mother's probably the greatest cook on the East Coast. How was yours?"

He shrugged. "Admittedly, better than I've had in a while. Starfleet cooking beats canned food any day."

She narrowed her eyes at him. "Canned food?"

Bones looked away, suddenly ready for the conversation to end. "Let me just get the station ready and we'll get started on your examination."

Camille let the matter drop, but knew she was not nearly done with it. She would get to the bottom of this man, she was determined. After all, he was trying to get to the bottom of her. He owed her a little bit of information on himself.

As he activated the scanner that surveyed her torso, she said, "So what do you normally do for Thanksgiving, Dr. McCoy?"

"I don't know. What counts as normal? It tends to change from year to year."

Camille attempted to keep her breathing normal, though she really wanted to let out a sigh of frustration. The man was an impenetrable wall! Fortunately, she could fly over those walls. And she was determined to do so.

"Okay. What did you do last year, and was it anything like what you've done in years previous?"

Bones made no attempt to bite back his frustration. If she insisted…

"I spent it alone, in my apartment, with a bowl of canned pork and beans. Are you satisfied now, Miss Osbourne?"

Okay. Harsh. But at least he'd answered.

"It that all I get, then? Just a short answer, no explanation?"

Bones narrowed his eyes at her. "I don't see why further explanation is required here?"

"Look, I trusted you enough to let you mess around with my body. I had no reason to do so, yet I did. Now I think I deserve to know a little bit of your past. If anything, it'll make me be more cooperative, depending on how pitiful it is, right?"

Bones glared, but relented.

"Dammit girl, you know how to make your case, don't you?"

Camille looked too smug for her own good.

"I try. Now spill, Doctor."

He hesitated, wondering exactly how much he should, in fact, tell. She had a point. But just because one person in an agreement was trustworthy, did not mean the other was. He made the mistake of looking up at her, and in her hazel eyes he saw something that put him at peace. She wasn't just looking to find something she could later blackmail him with. Camille Osbourne genuinely cared what he did for Thanksgiving. She wanted to know the story behind why that was. She wanted to know about him.

On the other side of the conversation, Camille had no idea why she was suddenly so interested in his personal life. Why she was so persistent to get him to tell her about it. But she'd put her mind to getting to the bottom of Dr. Leonard McCoy, and so help her, she would.

"Okay," he began. "So, my wife went slightly crazy about two years ago. She asked for a divorce, and honestly at that point, you could have twisted my arm. She'd been a little cracked since the day after the honeymoon. Well, she'd always had a way with a man – especially divorce lawyers – and she managed to convince him that I'd cheated on _her_ at least fifty times since we'd been married. Course, she forgot to mention that it was actually the other way around. So, everything went to her in the divorce. Next she went after my family. Turned them all against me. Never was my parents' favorite kid in the first place. My dad wanted me to take over the family business. I wanted to be a doctor. I turned eighteen, got out of the house and into medical school as soon as I could."

"I know the feeling," Camille muttered. When he looked as though he were about to ask what that was about, she held up a finger. "We're talking about you now," she said. "I promise if you finish this story, I'll include a bit of my life later."

Bones shook his head, the scan quite forgotten. This girl should have been a lawyer. Then again, he hated lawyers. And he certainly did not hate Camille. Though the fact may have shocked her, he never had. She was irritating beyond all belief, of course, but not in the least hate-worthy. She had driven him to drink before, but never loathing.

He understood the opposite was true for her of him, but could he blame her? He supposed he wasn't the warmest of men upon introduction. And with her past… well, his profession had been off-putting there. But it felt surprisingly good to bare his soul to someone. Jim was a friend, of course, but this was not the kind of conversation the two of them had on a regular basis. In fact, their conversations didn't often go deeper than the shorter version of what he was telling Camille now.

It was no small matter to realize that he actually considered Camille a friend.

Bones suddenly wanted to continue talking to her, and never stop. But he had to be pulled out of his reverie by Camille's prodding.

"You went to medical school?"

He shook his head, clearing it and getting back to the matter at hand, including her scan. As he processed the results, he said,

"Well, my dad put my younger brother in charge of it. He'd always been the golden child. I'd never been able to do anything right, my brother did it better in my stead. Of course, this never bothered me until I got married. My parents loved my wife, they fully bought into her little scheme. So did my brother. Guess who was the first one she tested out her little infidelities with?"

Camille's jaw dropped.

"And your family still sided with her?"

Bones' jaw tightened with every passing second.

"They never knew. Turns out when you're married to a woman cheating on you with a man you grew up with, they have more dirt on you than you know. Like I've said, I've never been my parents' favorite son, but I didn't want to lose them completely. And what these two had on me, I would have."

Camille carefully plotted her next words, not wanting to scare him off when he'd opened up so much already.

"If you'd rather not tell me what that was…" she began, but Bones was already shaking his head.

"I'd rather not, but I will," he said. "I'd embezzled some money from my dad's business. Turns out medical school is even more expensive than they make it out to be, and I was running low. I figured he wouldn't deny me money when I asked. But he did. Something about it being a sign that I was supposed to come back and resume my familial responsibilities. Either way, I was desperate. I wasn't going back there, but I sure as heck wasn't winding up on the streets, either."

He looked up at her, expecting to see judgment. Pity. Anything but the look of utter caring that he saw in her eyes.

"So you divorced her?" she asked.

"Not hardly, at least not yet. That was one of the conditions of their threat. And I had..." He cleared his throat. "Other reasons, as well. But she didn't stop with my brother. She tested the waters of adultery at least once a month over the next five years. Finally, I was done. I filed for divorce and as a result, she went crying to my parents and brother. Which explains what happened last Thanksgiving," he said. "I didn't have anywhere else to go."

He snorted. "That also happened to be the day she attempted to murder me in my sleep, but that's another long, painful story."

Camille did a double take.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait. You can't just leave me on a cliffhanger like that!"

Bones glared.

"What do you think this story was, girl? A book for you to read or something? Anyway, we still have an examination to do. _And_ ," his tone changed suddenly from irate to almost playful, "I believe you promised me a bit of _your_ life story in return. So start talking."

Camille found herself thrown off a bit by the sudden mood change, going from feeling like she was being scolded to being teased. And what was with him calling her "girl" all the time? Sure, she was a bit younger than him, but no more than eight years, she'd guess. Almost tempted to ask his age, she held back. No reason to stoke his ire more.

"So, about knowing the feeling," she began. "My dad had very different expectations for me than what I wanted, too."

Fidgeting, she wondered how to continue. She now knew how he'd felt baring that much of his past to her. Groaning inwardly, she lurched on, feeling more awkward than she'd felt in a long while.

"My dad was a big wig in the military," she said. "Not saying you've heard of him, but might as well ask. General Conrad Osbourne?"

Bones' eyes practically popped out of their sockets. "You mean the World War V hero?"

Her hazel eyes might have been lasers burning a hole in the middle of his forehead. Not about to apologize but wishing to calm her down, he made do with clearing his throat and waving her on.

"You were saying?"

"Anyway," she continued through gritted teeth. "You can see where he'd expect me, his only child, to follow in his footsteps, right? Well, wrong. Because of my stellar testing and my dad's status, I was able to join West Point at sixteen, instead of eighteen, like normal. I hated it."

Bones frowned. "How so?"

"Well, for one thing, we were protested every other day. The 'Make Love, Not War' movement is back. Again. You'd think the 1970s and the 2050s would have done them in, right? Nope. Secondly, the officers were the most corrupt human beings to ever exist. And such huge hypocrites. They would forbid us from consuming alcohol, from 'fornicating,' stuff like that, saying it distracted us from the task at hand. All you had to do was walk down the street at night to see them cavorting in bars and patronizing the women on street corners. And it was dull. No excitement whatsoever. I'm not one for orderly routines from day to day. At least, not in my work. I need some action. And after the last World War, none of the world powers are eager to repeat the process. It's a miracle some of the countries are still here, America included."

Bones nodded. "I lived through it. I know what you're saying."

"But besides that…" Camille trailed off, not sure if this was necessarily something she wanted to share. Looking to Bones, she saw the gentle prodding in his gray eyes, and she knew that it was safe to go on.

"I hate the destruction war brings. I mean, sure, there's something noble in defending your own country, but is there ever a reason to attack another? Not unless they attack you first. And America has become such a huge world power in the past fifty years, no one dares to attack us. Doesn't stop our military, though. I refuse to be a part of that." She drew in a deep breath. That last dissertation had all been delivered rapid-fire. She looked at him, waiting for his response. When he didn't give one, she said, "One last question, Doctor."

Rolling his eyes, he muttered, "If you insist, I suppose."

"Why Starfleet?"

He looked her dead in the eyes.

"My ex-wife is still out there, probably just waiting to murder me the next chance she gets. As far as I'm concerned, that means she took the whole damn planet in the divorce. So space is my next best option. Will I probably wind up dead anyway? Yes. Do I still consider it the best option? Yes. Yes, I do." Turning away to grab the scan results, which had sat printed out, untouched for the past five minutes, he said, "Your turn."

"Stands for something better than destruction. Yeah, we might still fight wars, but it's to protect our planet, not for our own gain. And exploration always appealed to me more in Earth's history than all the wars started."

Bones snorted. "Yeah, there's a freakish amount of those, aren't there?"

Handing her the results, he said, "Okay, back to business. Tell me what you see there, Camille."

Smiling slightly at the fact that he used her first name, she took them. "Nothing. At least, nothing that makes sense to me, and I'm not big on anatomy."

"Well, turns out you could have stopped at nothing. There's not the slightest blip on your lungs. Nothing wrong with them in the least."

Camille's heart practically stopped, her incredulity apparent on her face. "You mean… it's cured?"

"Cured is going a bit far. But I'd say, majorly improved," Bones told her. For the first time, she saw a genuine smile on the doctor's face. She'd seen him smile before, of course, but it was normally a half-tip of the mouth's corner. Sarcastic. Cynical. Never true positivity. And it was because she'd shown massive progress, not because he got a wad of cash in his pocket.

Dr. Leonard McCoy truly was a class above in his profession.

"So what next?" she asked, practically breathless, and this time, it wasn't because of her condition.

"You've been weaning yourself of your medication. What would you say to doing away with it entirely?" he asked.

Her heart slowly began to drop. "Not taking it at all?"

"Why not? Look at your scans, Camille. You're showing massive improvement. In fact, this is the strongest I've seen your lungs since you first came in here two months ago. No scarring, no strains. The medication is worse for you than the attacks themselves. The medication was what was killing you. If you can get rid of it, why not?"

She mulled it over. Did she trust him enough? Did she, perhaps, trust the medication too much? She'd depended on it for so much of her life…

That right there was her deciding factor. Camille would never be dependent on anything or anyone again.

"All right," she said, getting up. "I'll do it. No more medication for me."

Bones did that half-quirk of his mouth again. "I was hoping you'd say that."

"Am I still being monitored, then?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Up to you."

"I think I trust your professional judgment," she said, gently teasing. The other half of his mouth quirked up in a smirk. She walked toward the door, then turned back, thinking he deserved a bit more than a hasty departure this time. "Thanks…Bones."

Bones raised an eyebrow, but didn't seem entirely averse to her referring to him by the same nickname Jim did. "You're welcome, Camille."

* * *

"The exam scores are in from before the break," Captain Stark barked. "And I hope you all appreciate the fact that I spent the better part of my 'vacation,' if you can call it that, grading your blasted tests. Have at them."

Agustin gestured for Karina to stay put, then went up and brought back both their tests. Handing her hers, he smiled and said, "Almost perfect. As was to be expected."

Karina skimmed her answers. Only two wrong. A solid 98%. Not bad. She turned to Agustin, looking over his shoulder at his results.

"90. Not bad. You're getting better at this."

"I'm not so sure. I think it was just dumb luck this time."

Karina shook her head. "No way. If you work at something hard enough, you're bound to get it right."

He shrugged. "Well, I wouldn't be doing as well as I am without your help, Karina."

Blushing, Karina turned back to her paper. She still couldn't shake the feeling that her name sounded odd in his voice. Eh. It was probably just the ethnicities mixing. Karina wasn't exactly a Spanish name after all. It may sound incongruous, but not necessarily bad, right?

"Martinez," came a voice from above them.

Both kid's heads snapped up to find Stark standing before them, massive, intimidating. Karina resisted the urge to cower in fear and forced herself to hold her head high.

"Yes, sir?" Agustin asked.

"You've shown great improvement from your last test score," Stark told him. "Don't let it go to your head, and you'll do just fine in this program. And Bartowski," Stark said, clearing attempting to bring himself to get the words out. "Perhaps I was a little harsh with you before. It's clear you are, in fact, one of our best cadets. But once again, don't let that go to your head. Are we clear, cadets?"

They nodded and replied, "Yes, sir," in unison.

Agustin turned to her. "So, have you found anything in the transmission lab?"

Karina whirled to face him, frowning. "How do you know about that?"

He smirked. "It was pretty obvious. I mean, I didn't think you would just sit around and do nothing. You're better than that."

Karina could've died happy, right then and there. He thought she was better than…something. Either way, she was better!

"Not necessarily. But after the attack over break, I can't just stop. I'll be coming back later tonight."

He nodded. "Need help?"

She shook her head. "I don't want to get you mixed up in this. If they catch both of us, it won't just be one who gets expelled."

"Cadets?" this time the voice was behind them. Stark had popped up again. "Get to work, why don't you?"

"Yes, sir."

* * *

"She plans on infiltrating again, tonight?" the commander roared, enraged. "Why don't you just hand her the keys?"

"I repeat, as long as the signal is blocked, the girl poses no threat. You can go on planning just as you did before last week's raid."

The commander's glare could melt the lava of even the most dormant volcano. "Get rid of her," he growled. "She may be young, and foolish, but nothing can interrupt our plans. If this next raid fails, you will feel the cold chill of regret on your neck. Am I quite clear?"

The agent winced, then nodded. "As glass, my lord."

"Good. Now get to work. See that Karina Bartowski is removed. If that means disposing of her, what is the death of one insignificant human teenager? I trust you have the stomach to complete our means?"

The agent nodded even more vigorously. He hated the sight of his commander. A xenophobic, he was nauseated by even the slightest semblance of difference in face, in voice, in culture. Only his home culture was worth the effort.

It was for his people that he did this. Too long had they been thrust from one of the leading powers of the world. Now, if he could do this, they would be of the highest command on Earth, making them one of the leading powers in the universe.

If only he could get that meddling little girl out of his way… Her, with her overriding sense of nobility…her need to prove herself to those higher up that her. Just the very thought of her sickened him. She represented every idealistic notion he had come to hate.

Oh, yes. He would bring her down if it was the last thing he did.

"Hold one moment," the commander said, holding up one index finger and pressing the other to his ear. "What?" His face contorted with rage and he tossed the ear chip, glaring at his agent. "She's in the transmission lab now, you fool! Go! Go after her!"

The agent had barely heard of Karina's location before he hit the ground running, calling some men to come with him. He had the stomach to kill the girl, but perhaps it was unnecessary. In that event, intimidation would work just fine.


	15. Chapter 15

**Next chapter's up! Please review! (Seriously, if y'all like it, throw me a bone every once in a while!)**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing.**

* * *

Either Starfleet's recruitment standards were significantly lax, or they needed to up their ante when it came to authorization questions. If Karina brought this out into the light, she'd consider applying for her own authorization code. That last question, translating the equivalent of "hello my name is" into Vulkahnsu, had been downright insulting.

Karina sat down, hoping to clear her head before she began her transmission search. She didn't have long, however. She was jerked from her irritation by the sound of glass shattering. Shielding her face instinctively though she was far enough away to avoid being pelted with shards of glass, she lowered her arms just in time to see a trio of huge, muscular men running at her.

Rising, Karina searched about for any weapon she could find, but none were at her disposal. She barely had time to mentally berate herself for not being a weapons cadet before the first one grabbed her and yanked her to his side by her right arm. Crying out in pain, she was smothered by a huge, black-gloved paw that not only cut off her ability to scream out, but also half her ability to breathe. Her attacker reeked, like he had never bathed in his entire life.

Surveying his two companions, she saw one of them bore a length of rope. Typical. It was not so much the idea of being bound that frightened her as what their plans were for the plywood planks they carried. Her survival instincts, which were normally quite slow, suddenly kicked in and she began kicking at her captor's shins. He was so huge, all her barrage did was make him chuckle in a low, grating rumble.

"Hand over the rope," he said. "This one's got fight in her."

Suddenly the one holding the rope's eyes glazed over. Behind him, the other thug had already blacked out. Karina's head cleared and she bit down, hard. Tasting blood through the glove, she heard the one with her captive scream in pain as his grip loosened. Twisting, she rolled away from him, barely missing the glass. A grunt of pain came from her attacker's general direction. She shrieked when she felt a pair of hands grab her shoulders and clawed at their owner, catching him across the face. He cried out and then shouted, "Relax, Karina, it's me! Agustin!"

Blinking to see better in the dark, she stared at him.

"Come on! We need to go!"

He pulled her across the glass, and she was suddenly very glad she'd worn her uniform boots, the sturdiest things she had. Clearing the glass out of their soles would take a while, but at least they protected her feet.

They ran down the halls. Agustin waited until they were at a safe distance, then backed her up against a wall. "Are you okay?"

Karina nodded, breathing hard. "Who- who were they?"

Agustin shook his head. " _No se_. Some jerks who don't want you on this trail anymore. Karina," he said, looking her in the eyes. "I know what I said earlier. That you didn't strike me as the type to back away from something like this. But you've got to. I don't want you getting hurt."

She stared at him, not quite daring to believe what she was hearing and yet absolutely shocked by it.

"I can't stop, Agustin," she said. "Not now. I'm so close, I can just feel it."

He shook his head vigorously. "No, Karina. You have to stop. Please."

He sounded so pleading, so desperate for her to listen to him and heed him, that she almost relented. In fact, she might as well have with what she said next.

"I'll consider it, okay? I will seriously think about what I am doing."

His shoulders relaxed a little. "I suppose that's good enough for me. I hope you make the right decision here, Karina."

On impulse, she hugged him, burying her head in his chest. Then she realized it really wasn't on impulse at all. The experience, while brief, had terrified her, and she just needed some comfort, which she got when he wrapped his arms around her, rubbing her back and shoulders.

"You're okay," he murmured softly. "It's all going to be fine. You've just got to promise me you won't go back."

"I can't do that right now," she said. "But like I said, I'll think about it."

* * *

"You'll _think_ about it?" Camille asked, incredulous.

"You'll _consider_ it?" Jim cried, his eyes popping out of his head. Bones sat by, looking politely uncomfortable. He was less familiar with this situation than either Jim or Camille, but for the one time he had briefly discussed it with Karina herself. He made a note to ask Camille about it the next time she came in for her appointment.

He'd seen the Spanish kid in question, actually. He'd come in for a sore throat a couple of weeks ago. Quite frankly, he didn't know what Karina saw in him. He'd seemed distant and cold. And a bit of a hypochondriac. There'd been no sign of anything remotely wrong with his throat. Then again, Bones could appear that way to others sometimes, he supposed. Either way, he wasn't terribly fond of the idea of Karina throwing this away just because of a pretty face.

If only it was any of his business. Or, for that matter, theirs.

"I got _attacked_ , guys. Okay? And these weren't just Starfleet official intent on suspending me. They were more than likely going to end my life. So forgive me if I'm a little freaked out here!" Karina growled, her reaction excusable.

Bones couldn't just stay out of this one any longer. He cleared his throat. "Karina, could you give me a moment with these two?"

She gritted her teeth, rose, and went back to her room, where they were currently stationed outside.

"Okay, guys. I know we're trying to promote her doing the right thing here. I know you're trying to protect her from forever regretting not doing it if someone does attack Starfleet and steal the weapons system. But there's something you're forgetting: she is a fourteen year old girl, and she's scared. You hear me? She. Is. Scared. Now, as much as any of us would like to pretend not, I think we're all familiar with the feeling."

Jim nodded. "So…what are you saying here, Bones? We just…let this go?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. For now. Because like it or not, she did just receive a threat to her life last night. And with how dedicated she's been so far, I think she deserves a little break. Because if she's jumpy the entire time, there is no possible way she'll be able to do her job effectively. Are we collectively agreed on this?"

Jim more or less nodded his assent. "Sure."

"No," Camille muttered under her breath. Jim and Bones both shot her a glare and she relented. "Okay, okay. I won't bug her about it. I just don't think encouraging her to give up is the solution here, either."

"It's not giving up, Camille," Bones exclaimed, exasperated. "It's just temporary. Once she can stop looking over her shoulder, _then_ we start prodding at her to go back in."

"If Starfleet isn't compromised by then," Jim muttered.

"That's a risk we have to take then, isn't it?" Bones said, his point clear. The other two looked at each other as he walked away, claiming he needed to get back to work.

"Since when does Bones claim to understand fourteen-year-old girls?" Jim asked, frowning in confusion.

Camille shook her head. "I think there's a lot more to our friend Dr. McCoy than meets the eye."

Jim blinked and held a hand up to his ear. "Care to run that by me again? Did you say 'friend'?"

Camille shoved him. "Oh shut up. Now, don't we have an exam or something?" She walked off, head held high, her steps purposeful.

* * *

Agustin was being especially attentive after the attack. He showed up at their door every morning, practically escorted Karina everywhere.

Camille might have found it cute if she didn't also find it so sickening.

When he walked her back to the room one night, it was the last straw. Camille lay there, pretending to be asleep. But when Karina came in and sat down on her own bed, sighing with a mix of relief and – ugh – infatuation, Camille shot bolt upright.

"All right, sunshine, we need to talk."

"Gaaaahhhh!" Karina exclaimed, flinching. "Good lord, woman! Are you trying to give me a heart attack?"

"Oh honey, if anything _I'm_ not the one about to give you a heart attack," Camille said. "Does Agustin becoming so clingy not seem a bit…creepy to you?"

Karina frowned, shaking her head. "No. It seems…chivalrous. Protective. Like he cares."

"Do you think he needs to protect you?" Camille asked. "Honey, there's plenty of other people around. Also, have you reported that attack yet?

"There are plenty of people who could have been those thugs! I didn't get a good look at any of their faces but they were humanoid. That I could tell you for a fact, Cam. And no, I haven't. They'll want to know why I was there. They'll remember why I got suspended in the first place. I'll be out for good."

"Right. And what good will you be to Starfleet in the event that you continue to cower in our room or hide behind our friend Zorro over there?" Camille growled.

She'd hurt her. She could see that. But some things just needed to be said, bluntly. The hurt glistening in Karina's eyes turned hard, and she pulled the sheets up over herself.

"I'm going to bed early. Good night, Camille."

Biting back the comment she'd formed about Karina sleeping in her cadet uniform, Camille closed her eyes, sighed, and stood. "Have it your way, then. I'm going to…go study."

Sure, she was going to go study. That was why she definitely didn't grab her books or any studying materials on the way out. Whatever.

As she entered the coffee station, she very nearly bumped into a kid who looked like he was a couple years younger than her, maybe Karina's age.

"Sorry," she muttered, then made her way to a table and sat down, her head in her hands.

Looking back on it, she wasn't sure what she'd told Karina needed to be said. She hadn't said anything of what she'd wanted to. Planning to tell her that she thought Agustin was being a bit possessive had turned into her accusing her younger friend of being a coward, in essence. And from what she'd seen, Karina's self-image didn't need any tearing down. She didn't know what it was in the girl's past that caused her to have such problems believing herself capable. It was probably Sister Mary Agatha of Perpetual Darkness or whatever Karina had called her. Either way, Camille had screwed up. And she needed to make things right.

It was 5:30. No way was Karina asleep already. If anything, she'd been a bit wired the past few weeks. But Camille wasn't quite ready to go back just yet. She made herself a cup of weak coffee and headed toward the clinic.

Bones was reclined in the chair. Evidently he was having a slow evening. He looked like he was dozing off.

"You got a moment?" she asked.

He jumped like he'd been standing next to a toaster that had yielded its contents unexpectedly. Shaking his head and peering at her, he said, "Dammit, girl, you ever heard of waking a person gently?"

Camille sat down on the table. "Eh, I considered it. This was the more fun option."

He shook his head again, then relaxed somewhat.

"So, to what do I owe this unexpected…pleasure?"

She shrugged. "I needed to get away for a while. You looked like you were having a mellow day. So I decided maybe we could finish our Q&A session. Only this time, I'll let you go first."

Leaning back, Bones said, "I haven't really thought of anything I want to ask you. Is this going to become a regular thing, or should I start making a list of questions, or what?"

Camille smiled. "Not sure. Just feeling spontaneous today."

Bones snorted. "Okay then. I'll try to think of something not totally cliché. I can always learn your favorite color later or something."

"It's blue," Camille said. "Royal blue."

"All right then," he said. "Mine's green."

"What kind of green?"

"I don't know, just green. You can see in color, can't you? Or was that another thing you conveniently left out of your paperwork?"

"Yeah, but what kind of green? Forest, camo, lime?"

"Is there a difference? Anyway, I believe that counts as my question. If you'd kindly proceed, there must have been a reason you came down here."

"Fair enough," Camille admitted, then thought it over. "Favorite…animal?"

"Dog, without question."

Camille fake-groaned. "So cliché. But whatever. So is mine."

"Okay. I've told you about my less-than-perfect parents. What about yours? What are they like?"

"They're amazing! Besides the whole military thing, they've always supported me in everything I've done. My dad's always been convinced I could do whatever I put my mind to in life. So I have always considered myself capable of anything, too. My mom's the more protective one. Especially since I developed the lung problems."

She paused, considering how to broach the subject. "So, can I ask…why did your ex-wife try to murder you in your sleep that one time?"

He did that half-smile again that was not really a smile so much as a quirk.

"She had this theory that I wronged her if I even looked at another woman. Even if it was only…" He trailed off, once again wondering how much of his soul he should bare to her.

Camille, on impulse, reached out and put a hand on his arm. "You can tell me, Bones. I think with everything you've done for me, I can trust you. And I don't give my trust easily. I certainly don't give it if I know the other person can't trust me in return."

Bones looked up at her, sighed, and continued.

"Last Thanksgiving, I got lonely. After dinner, I visited the red light district in town and... Spent some of my hard-earned savings for a night with a girl. After I was done with her, I came home and fell asleep, only to wake up two hours later and find her standing over me, knife in hand."

Camille gasped, wondering what was wrong with the woman's mind.

"Survival instinct kicked in, and I wrestled the knife from her. She started screaming something about how I'd defiled myself, how I was hers. I countered with the fact that she'd left me. At that point she threw a lamp at my head and ran out."

He fell silent for a few moments. Camille had thus far tried to monitor what she said, so as not to scare him off of opening up to her, but she couldn't help it. Their trust of each other had been established, and it was too late to turn back now.

"So, what did you do?" she asked, brazenly wanting to know more of the situation.

To her relief, Bones didn't hesitate to tell her.

"I got out," he said. "I wasn't sticking around for her to come back and find me. I disappeared. Sold my apartment from a distance, and then left that place to come here. She has no clue where I am now. If she did, she'd have been here by now."

Camille raised an eyebrow. "So, just checking – Leonard McCoy is your real name, right?"

Bones characteristically snorted. "Of course it is," he said. "I didn't join the witness protection program, girl. I just erased any previous record of my existence besides my degree so I had some amount of trustworthiness in my profession and joined Starfleet. End of story."

Though she wanted to press further, she decided against it. The rest of his story was insignificant.

"Okay, I've had my piece," she said. "Your turn."

He looked her over appraisingly. "What are you and Karina doing for Christmas?" he asked. Personally, Bones found it distasteful that two holidays were so close together, but who was he to question the calendar?

"I'm going home, again," she said. "My parents agreed to splurge to fly me back for the holiday. Karina? She was going to come with me, but… We had a bit of a blow-up back there. Nothing we can't get past, in my opinion, but I don't know about her. I think she's a bit more sensitive about these things than me."

"What did you do?" Bones asked, without thinking.

Camille automatically bristled. "What makes you automatically assume it was my fault?"

Bones face-palmed. "Who's less sensitive here?" he muttered.

"Pardon me?"

"Nothing, nothing," he said, and Camille relented. She didn't need to be at odds with two of her friends here. And normally she reserved her contention spot for Bones, so Karina was filling up a big space there.

She rose. "Actually, I should probably get back and check on her," she said. "I may or may not have said something about Agustin being overly creepy."

Bones frowned. "Not a big fan of that kid, to be quite honest."

Camille nodded. "Yeah, I agree with you there. Something's off about him."


	16. Chapter 16

**Tis Friday! Tis a new chapter! Mostly lots of fluff. Not just any fluff. Christmas fluff. And adorable big brother Jim. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek. Sadly.**

* * *

Jim knocked on her door. "Kari? I know you're in there. I just want to talk."

The door slid open a crack, and one brown eye peeked through.

"Are you going to yell at me about Agustin, too?" she asked, her voice small, as though she'd been scolded by one parent and was fearful of the other's reaction.

"Not a chance," he said. "I have no intention of yelling at you. Didn't I just say I just wanted to talk?"

She nodded, opening the door and letting him in. It occurred to her that she would not have done the same thing with any of her other male friends – a category that was limited to Jim and Agustin, actually. Though she appreciated Bones sticking up for her and had defended him vehemently to Camille, she was not sure he was quite her friend yet.

Jim looked her over. She looked tiny, vulnerable, more so than normal. Her face was red, obviously she had been crying. She sat down on the bed, her arms wrapped tightly around her as though to protect herself from something. Jim had never had a little sister, but he knew this was how a protective big brother felt. Without a word, he held his arms out, and she went into them. He felt the front of his shirt wet, and from the slight shake of her shoulders, he knew she'd begun crying again.

"Jim, I'm scared," she said, her voice squeaking an octave higher than normal.

"Of what?" he asked.

"Going back," she replied, her hands fisting around the fabric of his shirt, her head buried in his chest. "But I know I have to. I can't just stick around and do nothing. Why can't I ever make up my mind about this? I know what I have to do. But I'm – I don't want – "

Jim squeezed her tighter. "I know, sweetheart. Believe me, I know."

The door squeaked open, and Camille stood there in the doorway. Jim and Karina both turned to her, Karina's tear-soaked eyes clearly betraying that she didn't want Camille to get the wrong impression. Camille had had no such thought. She merely went and held Karina from the other side.

"Just get it all out, hon," she said. "We won't judge you."

Karina was only too happy to oblige.

"I don't want to get attacked again. I know I won't be able to fight them off this time. And I know you think Agustin walking me back here every day is sort of clingy, but honestly, I'd be so jumpy if he didn't, I'm pretty sure they'd have to send me to a mental asylum or something. And I hate not being able to make up my mind of whether I should go back or not. I wish I were more like you two!"

Jim looked down at her, frowning. "Like us? How?"

"Would you guys let this stop you?" Karina asked. "Would you be this indecisive? Not from what I've seen. You both always make up your mind to do something and then never let anything stop you."

Camille snorted. "Well, I'd made up my mind to hate Bones forever and never trust another doctor in my life, and I'd say I've changed my mind on that one."

"I'd made up my mind to be the only genius level repeat-offender in the Midwest, and a good beating plus a lecture from Pike brought me down off that cloud real quick," Jim said.

Camille looked up at him, smirking. "Yeah, that was a pretty epic beating."

He looked sheepish. "You saw that, did you? Just my luck, huh?"

Karina, who had been leaning into Jim, suddenly lifted her head. "I'm staying here for Christmas," she said suddenly. The other two stared at her, thrown off by this sudden decision. She turned around so she was facing Camille.

"I'm sorry, Cam," she said. "It's not that I don't want to come with you, I just…think I need to stay here and keep going. I don't know if it'll yield any results, other than me getting accosted again, but I need to do it."

Camille nodded. "I'm proud of you."

"And this time I'm not going to turn back. I won't stop until they kick me out, I figure this out, or…" her voice trailed off until it was small as a shrew again. "Anything else happens."

Jim squeezed her shoulder. "I'll go with you, if you want," he said, but she was already shaking her head.

"I keep telling you, Jim, I don't want anyone else mixed up in this. I've got to do it on my own. I'll take some kind of protection."

Camille walked over to her dresser, pulled out her mace canister, and pressed it into Karina's hand. "That should do the trick. Less complicated than a phaser, and makes the toughest of men cry like babies."

Jim nodded. "Personal experience says that is entirely true."

Both girls stared at him, then Camille shook her head. "I definitely do not want to know."

"No you do not," he said. "So I guess this means you'll be spending Christmas with me and Bones, then, Kari?"

Camille leveled him with a look. "You'll keep in mind she's fourteen, right, Jim?"

Jim looked down at Karina, and the caring in his eyes answered Camille's question for her. He would treat her just as he would his little sister. Maybe show her a good time, but ultimately guard her with his life. And Camille knew Bones would, too.

"Okay," she said. "And if anything happens, Kari, you will call me the instant you find anything out, right?"

"Yes, ma'am," Karina said.

"Good," Camille said. "I can leave you all in peace now. And I trust," she said, "I will come back to find you all intact."

"Jeez, Cam," Jim said. "Anyone would think we were a pair of irresponsible teenagers you were leaving our eight-year-old sister with."

Karina bristled. " _Eight_?"

Camille pushed Jim toward the door. "And with that, I think it is time for Mr. Kirk here to leave. Good night, see you tomorrow in class, _sayonara, do svedanya_ , feed me some more here, Kar."

" _Guten nacht, chiao, hasta manana, adios, adieu, aloha, arrivederci, auf Wiedersehen, au revoir, bon voyage, shalom, totsiens, vale, zaijian_."

The other two blinked at her.

"What she said," Jim said, looking entirely confused.

Camille pushed him out the door for a final time. "I believe another is _'get lost_.'"

From the other side of the door, they heard Jim's muffled voice saying, "Point taken."

* * *

It was harder to leave than Camille had thought it would be. She was looking forward to seeing her parents again, of course. And it would be nice to be back on the East Coast, her home territory.

But she'd been living with these people for so long, it was weird to picture the next three weeks without them. She leaned against the window on the shuttle and reflected on the past few months. Three people she hadn't even known before September were now suddenly three of the most important people in the world to her.

Though she hadn't made that big of a deal about it to her parents like she'd known some of her friends who were only children to do, she had always wanted a younger sibling. She supposed her parents just hadn't had the time to give attention to more than one child when she was growing up. Her dad hadn't even been there for her birth, he was in the height of World War V. The war had ended when she was about six months old, finally quelling the last of those who might rebel against the Federation, so he'd been present for most of her childhood, but was away often enough that she could recall significant gaps of time when he was gone. And Mom had been a career mother. Though she had taken more time off when Camille was a kid, both parents were away often enough that she supposed they'd just never had time to have another kid.

But Karina had filled that gap Camille had been missing. She wanted someone to defend and take care of, and Karina certainly provided that. It worried her to no end that she was leaving Karina in the situation that she was, and produced some guilt as well. When she got back, she'd have to teach her some self-defense moves. Knowing Jim and Bones would be there gave her some comfort, but not much. Camille had refused to leave without Karina informing her that she would keep the door locked at night and let no one but Jim or Bones in. Not even Agustin. Karina hadn't even argued.

And then there was Jim. He was a charming scamp, she'd admit. And from some of the conversations they'd had, she knew she would never choose to date him. _Ever_. The man didn't have nearly enough respect for the female gender to suit her. But underneath the cavalier Casanova exterior, he really did have a heart of gold, and she knew she would trust him with her life in any given situation. No, Jim was not nearly significant other material. Not yet for other girls, and probably not ever for her. But he was one of her best friends, certainly.

In fact, she considered him a bit like her older brother. With all the teasing, constant getting on her nerves, and yet somehow managing to make her always forgive him, that was certainly how she imagined having an older brother would be like. Yes, Jim and Karina certainly filled her sibling gap.

To be honest, Camille hadn't really always had very close friends. Her personality was a bit too explosive for most people to handle. Even in the army, most hadn't been able to handle her outbursts of anger and blunt, tell-it-like-it-is personality. But Jim took it in stride, even let it roll off his back, and Karina? Karina was like a freaking puppy. She may have been easily wounded, but she always bounced back. It was one of the advantages of being Karina, Camille figured. She'd found people who could handle her, besides her parents, and it was a welcome discovery.

Finally, she allowed her mind to stray to Bones. She still didn't quite know what to make of him, just that she knew he'd had a rough past and hoped that his future was a vast improvement. She found herself filled with anger at his ex-wife. The woman clearly didn't have an appreciation for what she had found in Dr. Leonard McCoy.

Camille closed her eyes and an image of Bones came to her mind. He had the look of one who hadn't always been so cynical, one who might have had some light in his eyes back in his younger days- not that he was exactly ancient. But when he was first starting out his medical career, she could just picture someone who knew he could make a difference in the world, rather than one who was trying to prove that he could.

She felt a burning desire within her to defend Bones, but it wasn't like the desire she felt to care for Karina. There was a specific thing she was defending Karina from, a definite threat. And Bones could take care of himself, it appeared. Not only could he handle her fiery side, he bounced it right back at her without having that trait himself. No, he was too down-to-earth for such things. Perhaps too down-to-earth for space, even. In their last conversation before she'd left, he'd made it all too clear he was not looking forward to a career in space. Like she'd needed the clarification after the first time she'd seen him on the shuttle from Riverside.

Camille frowned. The clutch she felt in her chest made her uncomfortable. But it had nothing to do with her lung condition. This was different, far different. Inwardly screaming her confusion, she pushed thoughts of her friends from her mind. She determined that unless she slept on this ride home, she would think of nothing but the holiday season and her parents. Any worries she had about Karina or thoughts of Dr. McCoy would fly the forefront of her mind until she reached New York.

* * *

Bones eyed Jim with a discerning look. "For the last time, Jim, we are not taking a fourteen-year-old girl to a bar!"

Jim threw his hands up in the air. "But come on, Bones. Kari looks older than she actually is. You can't tell me she looks fourteen."

Bones continued to glare. "Well, she doesn't look eighteen, either!"

Jim pulled a card out of his pocket, flowing it between his fingers and grinning devilishly.

Bones grabbed it from him and stared at it, his glare only deepening. "A fake ID? Are you insane, man?"

"Hey, you don't get to be the only genius-level repeat offender in the Midwest without picking up a few things."

"Has anyone ever taught you the slightest semblance of responsibility?"

At that, Jim's smile faded.

"My mom tried," he muttered. "But she was off-planet enough, my stepfather wasn't exactly the type to teach as much as demand." Sitting back in the chair Bones normally occupied during his patients' visits, Jim sighed. "I guess I should have been better toward my mom. She deserved more, after losing my dad the way she did."

Bones was shrewd enough to know when to lighten his tone. And it wasn't very often he had to do it with Jim; in fact, this was the first time. He wasn't quite ready to shut his mouth entirely, though. Bones had no intention of being the accomplice to a minor sneaking into a bar. He didn't need that on his record. For that matter, with his ex-wife, he just didn't need a record.

Leaning forward across the table, he said, "I have an idea. It just might work. And it will probably make our little friend's year."

Jim sat back up. "I'm listening."

Two hours later, after Bones' shift was over, there was a knock at Karina's door. She'd reluctantly walked back alone after Agustin hadn't shown up for class, and spent the majority of her day reading. It was the last day before break, so she was blissfully homework free. Looking through the peephole, she was relieved to see Jim and Bones standing there. Mostly because it wasn't a bunch of thugs looking to do away with her, but also because she was dying for some human contact.

"Can I help you, gentlemen?" she asked, a smile playing at her lips.

Bones looked at Jim, who was grinning. "So, you're spending Christmas with us, correct?"

Karina nodded, slightly unsure of her response. She trusted both men, she just wasn't sure if she trusted their plans. Jim stood there for a few moments. Bones rolled his eyes, continuing for his friend's sake.

"What do you normally do for Christmas, Karina?"

She shrugged. It hadn't really been a big thing at the abbey. They'd had customary Mass. The nuns had actually let them put on a Christmas pageant for a few years, but after the girls that it originated with had turned eighteen and gone off to college or other lines of work, the tradition had died off. Karina wasn't much of a singer, so she hadn't really ever participated.

Jim steamrolled on, sensing that she wasn't going to give them much to go on. "So, what _would_ you like to do for Christmas?"

Karina narrowed her eyes, not quite sure where this was going. Laughing, Jim shook his head.

"Don't think I can't see right through you, kid. There's no catch to this. We just want to know what you want to do. That's it."

Karina could hardly believe her ears. They were actually asking what she wanted to do for the holidays? Two grown men valuing her opinion above her own? Knowing Jim and Bones, they'd probably just end up going out to a bar on Christmas Eve and nurse their hangovers the next day. But oh, no. That was not how this Christmas was going. She was going to plan something epic.

She motioned for them to come in. "Where are we doing this thing?"

Jim opened his mouth to speak, but Bones cut across him before he could speak. "My room. Without question."

"Come on, Bones! You think I can't clean my place up for you people?"

Bones shot him a look. "We'll have it in my room, Jim. Don't argue or I will hog-tie you the day of and drag you down there. Are we clear?"

Karina smirked at Jim. "I'd listen to him, Jim. I hear Georgia boys are pretty good at hog-tying."

"You've no idea," Bones muttered.

Jim pondered the situation for a moment, then relented. "Bones' room it is, then."

Karina whipped out a notebook and started jotting down some notes. Jim eyed her rapid-moving hand. "What are you doing, Kari?"

"You guys asked me what I wanted to do for Christmas. I'm therefore going to give you the most festive thing that ever existed. Now, all I need is someone to run me to the store to get the necessities…"

Bones looked over her shoulder and frowned. "Let's get one thing straight here, kid. I'm not planning on wearing any kind of…Santa hat."

Karina glanced up at him. "I could just swap your hat for Jim's reindeer antlers."

Jim, who had raided the girls' fridge and found a Coke, spewed his beverage all over Camille's desk. Once he recovered from his coughing fit, he stared at Karina.

"You're making me wear what?" he asked, incredulous. She blinked innocently at him.

"Like I said, you were going to get the antlers. I considered buying you a false glowing nose, but figured it might be a bit much. So I figure we put some jingle bells on the antlers and it'll be fine. Unless Bones wants to swap you head gear."

Bones' frown deepened. "So, I'm not getting any…bells or whistles on this hat, right?"

Karina shook her head, feigned innocence oozing from every pore. "Just a normal Santa hat, Bones. I promise."

He looked at Jim. "I'll take the Santa hat. In all honesty, I just want to see him in those ridiculous antlers you're talking about."

Karina giggled, something that to Bones sounded delightfully childish and to Jim sounded deceivingly evil. "This, gentlemen, will be the best Christmas either of you have ever had. Me too, if I have anything to say about it."

Somehow, no one in the room doubted her.


	17. Chapter 17

**Ah, chapter seventeen. My favorite number. :) And in this one, things begin to hit the fan. Again.**

 **Also, A/N: For those of you lovely people who have reviewed the last few chapters, I'm sorry I haven't been able to respond. There was a tragedy in my family a few hours after I posted the last chapter and I haven't been able to get online all weekend - or, for that matter, even think about such things. As it is, I'm just posting this chapter fairly quickly without much editing, as today is ANOTHER busy one which involves me moving back to school. Hope it's enjoyable, and I will try to reply to your reviews sometime tonight or tomorrow. Hope you enjoy this chapter!**

* * *

"Okay, let me see the picture of Jim!" Camille demanded. Karina, who had picked up a camera for her holiday with the men, had just showed her a picture of Bones in his Santa hat. The man had a decidedly gruff look on his face, betrayed only by a slight tip of the left corner of his mouth. Camille marveled at her friend's ability with these guys. It wasn't even the kind of wiles most women held over men. It was purely her childlike, fun-loving ways. There was no way Camille would have been able to get Bones to put on the traditional holiday garb without some serious coercion. If it hadn't been so hilarious, she might even have been jealous.

Karina, who had, of course, dissolved into fits of giggles, handed her the picture of Jim. He was at least making a valiant attempt at a smile, though his red face betrayed his utter embarrassment at the headband Karina had foisted upon him. Camille had never thought she would see James T. Kirk red in the face with anything but, perhaps, anger. She was beginning to suspect there was more to the man than the womanizer he portrayed to everyone.

"I still can't believe you got them to wear this stuff," Camille said, staring at the pictures side by side.

"Just wait till you see this one!" Karina said, handing her a picture of Bones struggling mightily while she and Jim attempted to get an ugly Christmas sweater over his head. Camille, after her initial fit of laughter, tilted her head in confusion. "Who took this one?"

"That girl Juliet from Engineering," Karina told her. "She and this guy from Navigation wandered in eventually. I think his name was Hulu or something. Either way, they're both pretty fun people. He's really quiet, though. It took about half the day to get him to warm up to any of us besides her."

"Oh, yeah. Juliet's a cool person," Camille said, recalling how she had helped her after the first spell she'd had here. The only one, now that she thought about it. "And as for her friend, was his name actually Sulu?"

Karina face-palmed. "I knew I was off! Yeah, that was it. How do you know him?"

"He's in one of my general classes. Basic Survival, I think," Camille replied. Looking back to the picture, she shook her head. "So did you actually manage to get the thing over Bones' head, or what?"

Merely grinning, Karina handed her the next picture. Sure enough, Bones was glaring at the camera, a fuzzy, hideous, dark blue sweater pulled over his head and Jim and Karina on either side of him, Jim attempting to turn Bones' frown upside down by pulling on both sides of his mouth, Karina with her arms wrapped around the man's neck. Camille, having been on the receiving end of Kari's neck hugs, wondered if part of Bones' glare didn't have something to do with him being unable to breathe.

Paying sudden attention to her own breathing ability, Camille was pleased to find that there was not a hitch to her apparatus. The oxygen passed cleanly into her lungs, and her exhaling was smoother than it had ever been. She smiled to herself. Bones might just have cured her. And in doing so, he had saved her life. Wondering how it was possible to thank someone for saving your life, she lay down on the bed, slamming her head into her pillow.

Karina glanced at her. "Everything okay?"

Camille shook her head, still smiling. "Everything's perfectly fine, Kar."

Smirking, Karina nodded. "Uh huh." When Camille didn't react to her inflection, she rose. "Well, I'm off. The lab is calling me."

Camille sat up as she left. "Remember what I taught you?"

Karina turned around and curled her hand into a fist. "Punch with the thumb outside the fist, not inside. Otherwise it'll break. Right?"

"Mmm-hmm. And?"

"Hit first and hit hard."

"You got it! Confidence. It's more intimidating than anything else!"

"Yes ma'am!"

Karina made her way down to the transmission lab. Reaching into her left pocket, she pulled out Jim's gift and stared at it for a moment. She'd almost refused the wrapped package when he gave it to her.

"Seriously, Jim, this day is present enough. I don't need anything else."

Shaking his head, he shoved it at her. "Oh, you're going to want to see this one, Kari. Come on, open it!"

She'd ripped the packaging off only to see a small recording device. Looking up at Jim, puzzled, she asked, "What is this?"

"I figure when you pick up on that transmission, you're going to need some proof of it, aren't you?" Jim said, looking far too pleased with himself. In all actuality, that was the only way he knew to express his emotions at that point. He wasn't pleased with himself, necessarily. He was pleased that he got to help out this girl who'd become like his little sister. The look on her face as she threw her arms around his neck gave him more delight than anything else.

Of course, Sulu and Juliet, being the only ones in the room who knew nothing about the Romulan threat but what they'd been told after the evacuation, had questioned what was going on. Karina was reluctant to tell them, but Jim was a bit more trusting and leaped right in.

Sulu had contemplated it for a moment, then looked Karina in the eye, addressing her directly for the first time that night. "Is there anything you need me to do to help you out?"

Karina was shocked at first that he was offering to help her without even knowing her for twenty-four hours, then it gave her a surge of warmth toward this man that she barely knew. Still, she was beginning to branch out since leaving the abbey, and an after-effect of that fact was that she was loathe to ask for help. This was something she could do on her own. She'd left him with a polite refusal.

Entering the code, she waited for the first of the three questions to come up, but nothing popped up. Suddenly, a large figure stepped into the doorway.

"Looking for something, Cadet Bartowski?"

Her automatic reflexes, on overdrive since her last encounter with a thug, went into play. Karina took a swing at the hulking figure in front of her, and he caught her arm, holding it up. She gazed up into the face of Captain Stark, who looked about as pleased to see her as she was to see him.

"Not only sneaking onto Starfleet property, but attempting to assault an officer?" he asked, shaking his head. "Count yourself fortunate I won't call for a court martial, Cadet. No, I think a quick expulsion will be the best option."

He began to drag her along the hallway. She struggled against his grip. No way was she going to whoever he worked for quietly. As it turned out, however, it was difficult to dig your heels into linoleum. She settled for pounding on his shoulder. It wasn't until she got a kick into his ankle, however, that he bent over in pain. Glaring at her, still tightly secured in his grip, he muttered, "I didn't want to have to do this, Bartowski. You've given me no choice."

With that, he slung her over his shoulder. Karina was no lightweight, but compared to him, her five-foot-two frame was positively petite. She didn't give up her struggle, however. She beat her fists against his back, pummeled his stomach with her feet. Looking back, she'd think that was probably the worst thing she could have done for herself, but at the moment, her panic instinct was clouding her good judgment.

He grunted every once in a while when she got a good kick in.

"You're lucky I haven't eaten recently, kid," he said. "And you're not helping your case with Captain Pike. He doesn't appreciate his cadets showing contempt for their rank, even if they are about to be dismissed from Starfleet permanently."

Suddenly Karina's barrage desisted. Captain Pike? Was he actually taking her to Captain Pike? So then it wasn't Stark who'd attacked her before? Or was it, and he was just covering up his crimes by trying to appear on the good side? Letting herself go limp, she reflected on her mistake. She was about to be expelled. Just like that, her future down the drain, at the tender age of fourteen. She couldn't even drive yet, and she was being carted back to the abbey.

Heck no. She wasn't going back. Pike may not believe her, her days at Starfleet might be over, but she could find some restaurant in San Francisco that would take her. Some intergalactic place. She would not go back to those nuns. And then she could see Jim, Bones, and Camille while they were on-planet. Here she would stay in California. If she had to be on the streets until she raised up enough money to rent an apartment, she would stay here –

Stark unceremoniously dumped her in a seat in front of Pike's desk. This was the moment of truth. No going back now.

Pike bore the look of a disappointed father. At least, Karina thought bitterly, what she imagined a disappointed father would look like. It was confirmed in his next words.

"I'd hoped Captain Stark here was wrong, Cadet Bartowski," he said. "I suppose I was disappointed, wasn't I?"

* * *

Camille watched the dawn rise over the horizon out the window. Karina should have been back by now. The catch rose in her throat, and in her chest as well. She tried to get out another breath, but it wouldn't come.

Inwardly groaning, Camille knew she should have slept, instead of waiting up for Karina. The combination of no sleep and constant worrying were enough to stop her from being able to breathe. She tried to hold herself up on the bed, but she couldn't muster enough strength to make her arms work. Falling to the floor, she slithered along in an army crawl, until she reached the door. But by then, the last of her strength was spent and she slumped against the doorframe, clutching to it, wanting nothing more than to be able to stand, make it on her own, not be weak.

But as her throat continued to constrict, she realized being weak might be the least of her problems, and all she wanted to be was alive.

Faintly in the distant, dimming recesses of her senses, she heard a voice, a distinctly masculine one, shouting, "Cam? Camille!"

And then there was silence, horrible, awful, distinct silence that enveloped her.

* * *

Bones had just left Karina in Jim's room and was coming to get Camille at the young girl's request when he saw a figure curled up on the floor in the girls' dorm room.

"Cam?" he called tentatively, then, when there was not the slightest stirring, not even for breath, he cried out, "Camille!" and took off sprinting to her side.

As he'd seen from a distant, she was not breathing, and her pulse was weak, just like the last episode. Gathering her in his arms for a second time, he muttered, "Dammit, girl, what did you do this time?"

Bones made the normal two-minute trek to the clinic in thirty seconds. Time was really of the essence this time. He had no clue how long she'd been lying there before he got there, but it seemed as though this particular episode was advancing quickly. There wasn't even the slightest wheeze coming from her throat.

Laying her as gently as possible down on the table, he hooked her up to the steam. He turned the dial to full strength, feeling the panic slowly rising in his chest. Come on, Camille. Don't give up on me now. Keep fighting, come on!

He thought his knees would give out when she took one huge, shuddering breath. Bending over the bed, he watched as her chest began to rise and fall again, at first ragged, then normally. Staggering over to his chair, he sank into it, his forehead resting on one hand. He felt a surge of triumph, but also the overwhelming sense of defeat as well.

After all these months, all the waiting, finally concluding that there was nothing more to be done and success had been reached, he hadn't been able to save her after all.

Bones felt a serious need to punch something. He settled for his own leg in this instance, slamming his fist into it in fury. It made no sense. Her lungs were improving. She should have had no problem with her breathing any longer. He massaged the crease between his eyebrows. Something was off here… Something was the farthest thing from right as it was possible to be.

She was waking up and trying to speak. The unintelligible croaking that came from her throat actually brought pain to Bones himself. He stood and went to her side.

"Don't try to talk just yet, Camille," he said. "Whatever it is, I guarantee it can wait."

The furrow in her brow said more than just frustration at her current mute state. She was furious at him. Furious that he hadn't been able to fix her. Furious that she still had to die. Furious that just like all the doctors before him, he had failed.

He'd failed her.

He just hoped that she wouldn't be so foolish as to fall back on the medication. But he knew she wouldn't. He'd given Camille the option of not depending on something. Perhaps that would be enough to save her. Perhaps she'd make it past thirty. Perhaps she'd die of old age, basking in the glory of being a Starfleet admiral.

Either way, looking into her hazel eyes, he knew her trust in him was broken. But maybe, though he'd lost her friendship, he _had_ managed to save her, after all. In one way or another.

And somehow, for the perpetually detached, cold, gruff Dr. Leonard McCoy, knowing that there was a remote possibility Camille Osbourne would live to be an old woman – if space didn't kill her first, of course – was enough in this situation.

He allowed his thoughts to drift to the girl a flight of stairs above them. He hoped hearing about her roommate's expulsion wouldn't push Camille over the edge into another episode.


	18. Chapter 18

**Next chapter is up! Have at thee! (Probably using that phrase wrong, but I was feeling Shakespearean this morning. Don't know why.)**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing! Star Trek is not mine. Bones and Jim are not mine. Pike is not mine. The Romulans are not mine (thank goodness).**

* * *

Jim paced outside Pike's office for a few moments. Karina's parting words rang in his ears, "Don't be too hasty, Jim. I don't want him to expel you, too."

Jim quite frankly didn't see her fear of Pike, but then again, he wasn't the one who'd just been kicked out of Starfleet. If he had to make a bet, he'd say the man hadn't truly bought the story Stark sold him about Karina trying to draw attention to herself, but some form of protocol had gotten in his way and his hands were tied. Jim wasn't about to let that fly. Kari was not into the spotlight. She just managed to get it, no matter what she seemed to do. He steeled his resolve before knocking on Pike's door.

Jim had barely been invited in before Pike said, "I know what you're trying to do here, Kirk. And it's not going to work. I've already expelled her. Quite frankly, Stark's word is more convincing than hers, or yours."

"Sir, I understand that I'm just an ex-convict in a lot of people's eyes, including those higher up than you. Admiral Marcus, everybody else, has every reason to believe that my word is not good enough, but why not her? Why buy Stark's story? When last I heard, he was in about the same boat as me: a washed-up drunk that just happens to have connections in Starfleet."

Pike sat there and considered what he said for a second.

"What makes the word of a fourteen-year-old better than yours, Kirk?"

Jim bit back his original comment, which certainly wouldn't have earned him any points with the captain.

"Because I know her, sir. And I know that she has a reason behind why she does it. And what's more, sir…" Jim paused, not sure whether he should continue, then barreled on. "She's been attacked while investigating this, sir. Someone wants her off the scent."

Pike leaned forward at that piece of information. "Attacked, you said? By who?"

"We don't know, sir. She said three big, ugly guys with masks over their faces."

"This have anything to do with that broken window a few weeks back in the lab?"

"Yes, sir."

"Right. You were saying? How did she escape?"

"This Spanish kid helped her out. Agustin something. You can call him in and ask him about it. Sir, this is worth looking into."

Pike rose, shut the door, and locked it. "Under no circumstances is this conversation to leave this room."

Jim nodded, and Pike gestured for him to take a seat.

"All right, you have my attention, Kirk. I'll call him in. Interrogate him. But I've also already expelled her, so my hands _are_ a bit tied here. Unless, of course, she can prove it. That's where you come in."

Jim tilted his head. "Sir?"

"I don't know how you're going to do it. And I don't care to make suggestions. But somehow let her back in. Let her keep doing what she's doing. I'll pay for her to stay in a motel somewhere around here. But none of us are to get involved in any other way besides letting her in."

"Sir, what if she's attacked again – "

"That'll be unfortunate. But it will also be something that I believe she's resigned herself to. What about you, Kirk? Do you think she's prepared to take that risk?"

Jim paused. Then he realized, this was Kari they were talking about. Of course she was prepared. The girl had barely gotten any sleep the past four months trying to get to the bottom of this thing, and why? Because she cared about Starfleet. Because she knew where she belonged.

She belonged here, with them. With the makeshift family they'd created. And so help him, he wanted her to stay. For the first time, he cared deeply about a pair of girls who weren't on his radar for his next one-night-stand. Camille and Karina, they were like sisters to him. Although, with his track record, if he ever needed to defend their honor, he might seem a bit hypocritical.

Best leave that to Bones in both situations.

"Yes sir," he said. "I think Karina is prepared for that. She can do this, sir. She's always been able to."

Pike nodded. "And if she gets caught again, neither of us are to be implicated. Will she understand that?'

"She's gone out of her way to insure no one but herself is implicated, sir. I think she'll be completely understanding of these terms."

"In that case, good luck to her," Pike said, rising and unlocking the door, waving Jim out. "You're dismissed, Cadet Kirk. And good luck to you, too."

But as James T. Kirk walked away from Pike's office, he had absolutely no intention of staying _completely_ on the sidelines.

* * *

It had been a week since she'd had the last episode, and Camille was starting to regret her harsh actions. Once Bones had let her speak, she'd fairly exploded. She'd said something along the lines of how she would not be back in, how clearly this was not helping in the least, and, the outburst she regretted the most, that he was exactly like every other doctor she had ever seen. That one had caused a cloud of hurt in his gray eyes, though his face had remained expressionless.

In fact, every time she had seen him since, he had been devoid of emotion.

Camille kicked a pillow that was laying on the floor. Since Karina had moved into the hotel, the mess in their room had lessened, but Camille could create quite a mess herself. She'd almost have welcomed that explosive anger of his over this cold, emotionless silence. At least then she'd know he felt anything toward her at all.

Flopping down on the bed, she looked over at the empty, perfectly well-made bed next to her. Not the slightest rumple of the comforter, no Karina over there to frown and ask her what was wrong. She tossed the pillow at the specter. She'd had that annoying little sister factor sometimes, she'd been slightly more emotional than Camille herself, but blast it, Camille missed Karina's presence. Even the gushing about Agustin would have been welcomed compared to that silence. At least it had been cute.

Camille rolled over and screamed into her pillow out of frustration. She kept pounding against the bed. And she was cursing everything. Bones, Captain Stark, her stinking lungs!

"Whoa. Calm down, Cam. What did that mattress ever do to you?"

Up like a flash, Camille was .02 seconds from assuming a fighting stance when she realized it was just Jim. She glared at him, sinking back down on the bed.

"What do you want?"

Jim sat down in the chair. "Don't think I don't know the only reason you've been ignoring me is because of Bones. Well, in case it's escaped your notice, Miss Hold-a-Grudge-Until-The-End-of-Time, I still want to be your friend, too."

Camille pulled her knees up and hugged them. "I'm not holding a grudge against you, Jim. Not even Bones, anymore. In fact, I'm dead sorry I ever said any of those things to him. So, utterly, sorry. But he won't let me say anything. He's the one still holding a grudge."

And something about Dr. Leonard McCoy told her he was capable of holding a grudge for years if he wanted to. She rested her forehead on her knees. Jim sat forward on the chair, which, for some odd reason, was not covered in clothes. Then she realized, it was Karina's chair, not hers.

"So, they said anything about you getting a new roommate yet?" he asked.

Camille groaned and once again flopped back on the bed. She didn't want to think about it. Anyone but Karina in this room was going to be just plain weird.

"Is that a yes?"

"It's been a week, Jim! If they haven't contacted me yet, they will be soon."

Jim shrugged. "Eh, I don't think they will."

Camille sat up. "Come again?"

Jim grinned at her. "You do know you're the only person I'll be telling this to, right?"

Camille raised an eyebrow. "Not even Bones?"

"Nope. He doesn't need to know this one, as far as I'm concerned. The less people know about it, the better. But let me say one thing, Cam: We get caught and anyone questions you, you know nothing. You don't go down for the rest of us just to be noble. Have you got that?"

She nodded, confused. "Crystal clear. Now what _is_ it?"

"I'm letting Kari in through my window until she gets to the bottom of this. And she's getting close. See, she thinks she's going to figure something out tonight, and when she does, she isn't sure whether those people will be back for her or not."

Camille frowned. "Jim, are you forgetting the other complication?"

Jim's expression mirrored her own. "What other complication?"

"The weapons. The system they want. It was finished _today_! Or weren't you paying attention when you weren't ogling that Orion?"

Jim's eyes widened, then he smacked his forehead. Camille shook her head, a look of sheer unbelief on her forehead.

"James Tiberius, for such a genius, you can be an idiot sometimes!"

Jim shook his head. "They'll be on double-time tonight for sure. We can't let her do this, can we?"

Camille paused. "Unless…"

Jim eyed her. "I don't know what scheme you have up your sleeve, Cam. But whatever it is, I'm sure I'm in. Spit it out."

"Let me man the weapons system, Jim. I guarantee if they get in to steal it, they won't stand a chance against a weapons cadet blasting a wall of fire at them."

"No way you can man it on your own, and I need to be around watching Kari's back – "

"Who said anything about me being on my own? I was thinking Juliet."

Jim shook his head. "No, we need to involve as few people in this as humanly possible."

"Sounds to me like we need as many people as necessary to get this thing done. I mean, it could be the possibility of Starfleet's future. And then, most likely, Earth's."

Jim's mouth quirked up as he thought it over. "Okay, but we don't involve Sulu. Or Bones."

Camille shook her head. "I wouldn't dream of it, trust me."

Jim nodded. "Okay. Karina in the transmission lab, me in the corridors, and you in the weapons lab. I'll give you the signal when to go. Are we clear? Not before, not after."

"Understood, captain."

Jim considered this. "Captain. Has a nice ring to it."

Camille laughed dryly. "Don't get too used to it. When it comes to the weapons, I'm still running this ship."

* * *

"You say the girl has been successfully silenced?" the Romulan asked, staring the agent down.

"I do not foresee her returning, sir."

"I do not shy from bloodshed. But I would have preferred it this way. Less mess. Well done, agent. So therefore, you will lead the party to infiltrate the weapons system. Hold the captains in their quarters. Make sure the cadets are out. We don't want anyone trying to stop us from our work. Am I understood?"

The agent flinched, irritated at the captain's apparent fondness for that phrase – and how he managed to reduce him to a cowering poodle every time he used it.

"Quite clearly, sir."

"Good. Pull the fire alarm. Run down the corridors screaming about an attack. I don't care what you have to do. Just make sure no one finds themselves getting a sudden burst of courage. This must go off without a hitch. Otherwise, when we come for Earth, I will make sure you are the first to burn. Am I - ?"

"Understood? Yes, sir. Crystally so." Why did he sound like an idiot here?


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19 is up! Only four chapters left after this one, but don't worry, you haven't quite seen the end of Camille and Karina. :)**

 **Also, I plant a bit of a reference to the second chapter in this one that I only now realized may not make sense at first glance. But it's important for further installments of this particular story. See if you can guess who I'm talking about! :)**

 **Sorry for all the smiley-faces. I just really like this chapter. My excitement is overflowing and manifesting itself in excessive emoji use.**

 **Disclaimer: I own NOTHING.**

* * *

Jim opened his window at the tapping. Karina slipped in.

"So, how do you manage to make sure that your roommate isn't in when you admit me illicitly?" she asked.

"It's helpful when he's even more of a drunk than I am."

Karina tilted her head. "Forgive me for this observation, Jim, but you honestly don't seem like that much of a drunk. Maybe you throw one back every once in a while, but not a drunk."

Jim appraised his little friend. She'd become different, even in a week's time. Surprisingly, with what she'd been through, it wasn't a bad change. She'd become more confident, more sarcastic, and – this was the one part he didn't like – less easy to read. Was Karina actually visibly growing up? Had this been a gradual process since he'd known her, or had it really happened in the past week?

Either way, instead of her being an open book to him, he now appeared to be an open book to her. But he found he didn't mind the observation she made. Whenever he called himself a lazy drunk to Camille or Bones, they laughed, snorted, or made some kind of unconscious noise of approval. Karina was the first one since Pike in Riverside who appeared to see him as something more.

He loved her for that. No matter how tonight went, he would protect his friend from whatever threats came.

"Well, maybe you're right, Kari. But we're wasting precious time here – "

"I mean it, Jim. I don't know if I've ever told you this, but you've got one of the biggest hearts of anyone I know. And you're one of the least selfish people I know, too. You'll make a great captain someday."

Jim stared at the kid. She never failed to surprise him. He ushered her out the door. "You know the plan?"

"I get in there, you start patrolling the corridors about half an hour later, Cam and Juliet get into the weapons lab half an hour after that. Remind me why the intervals?"

"If we do it too close together, the security guards know something's up. And the way I see it, I'd rather see you protected than the weapons. Cam agrees," Jim told her.

Karina frowned. "I can – "

"Forgive us if we don't exactly feel comforted by your assumption you can take care of yourself, Karina. Last time you were attacked, it would have gone south real quickly if not for that Agustin kid."

Karina's ears perked up at his name.

"Is he involved in this in any way?"

Jim shook his head and her face fell. Jim willed his eyes to not roll. Maybe the kid did still have some growing up to do. And he didn't fault her for it. She was fourteen. Growing up was still far ahead of her.

He still hadn't done it entirely, and he was twenty-three.

"We didn't want to involve anyone when it wasn't necessary to do so," he said. "This is for his own good, trust me." _And yours, considering how distracted you'd be if he was involved._

Karina nodded, as though hearing his thoughts and seeing his point. "This is probably for the best, then. Let's keep him out of it."

Jim put a hand on her shoulder. "Good girl," he said. "Now let's go."

Karina made her way down to the weapons lab. She was dressed in all black as per usual, which would look suspicious if anyone saw her but also made it easier to blend into the shadows. She simultaneously hated and loved how cliché it was, this ninja-esque outfit. Karina resisted the urge to tuck and roll from shadow to shadow, knowing that with her athletic ability, it would probably end horrendously. She therefore settled for the simple act of sneaking back and forth from shadow to shadow.

Finally she reached the transmission lab. Not exactly the wisest move on Starfleet's part, not posting extra security around the place, but hey, who was she to complain? She bit back a stroke of bitterness that they hadn't at least looked into her discovery.

But on the bright side, she _had_ asked for adventure. And she'd sure as heck got it.

Entering her digits, she braced herself for the first question. But it never came. The only thing the hologram said was, _"Welcome, Karina Bartowski. Please enter the transmission lab and continue with your endeavors."_

"Okay, that was weird," she muttered. Karina was no idiot. In all reality, at best she should have been completely blocked out of the lab for being expelled. Something was off. But she was also not about to look a gift horse in the mouth. Tentatively, she set one foot over the threshold.

Flinching inwardly, expecting at least for some guy clad similarly in black to pop up and rush at her, she breathed a sigh of relief when no one showed. She made her way to the headphones and listened carefully.

An agonizing hour passed, or so it seemed. Later she would find out from Jim that it was only about half that. She would also express shock that it didn't take as long as she'd thought it would to receive the signal.

"Tonight….keep captains in their quarters…get cadets out…am I understood?"

Karina frantically checked the location. The ship was in Earth's parameters. They were here. They were attacking tonight!

She leaped up, shrieking without restraint, "I've got it!" As she raced out of the room and down the corridor, she ran headlong into someone. Looking up, all she caught of his appearance was some curly brown hair.

"Sorry about that," she muttered, still running for the captains' apartments. Pike had to hear about this one. She had proof! At last, at last, proof!

Once again, the boy looked after her. Shaking his head, he walked away. From the very first day, she'd been in a hurry, that one.

Karina raced down the corridor. Subtlety was not in her vocabulary, or abilities, but perhaps it should have been. All she could think of was getting to Jim, getting to Pike, showing him her proof. Surely she could replay it somehow.

Suddenly she slammed into a brick wall, or so it felt. She attempted to step back, but then realized: This was no brick wall. It was one of the thugs that had attacked her earlier that year, judging by the smell off of him. And even worse, he had his arms wrapped around her in what might have passed for a bear hug had the pair of them borne any fondness for the other. Karina balled her hands into a pair of fists, but she could barely pull them back enough to beat them against his chest, much less make a lasting impression.

"Jim!" she cried. "JIM!" She managed to call his name twice more before the rogue stuffed a foul-smelling sock in her mouth and tied her wrists. He turned her around and started dragging her down the hallway, his arm around her neck. Her breathing nearly cut off, what with the sock and the headlock, she felt herself choking, but there was no air to choke on.

A wave of relief washed over her when she saw a very familiar figure round the corner. He barreled toward them, shouting her name. "Kari!"

But from crevices on either side of the corridor, she saw two figures, one not quite as large as her attacker, the other rather lithe, step out and make their way towards Jim.

She tried to warn him, but the only noise she could muster around the sock was a muffled groan. The first, larger miscreant knocked him on the head with a phaser and he went down hard.

Karina called out his name, but it was lost around the sock. She gagged, quite certain the thing had just come off someone's foot. Jim lay on the floor, completely motionless, and Karina felt a thrill of panic. _Please, let him still be alive!_

Her captor turned her away from the sight and slung her over his shoulder, so she still had a fairly good view. One took Jim's pulse and shrugged. "Not dead," he muttered. "Might as well bring him with us."

Karina let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Jim was alive, but for how long would it be kept so?

Suddenly, a blasting noise erupted from the weapons lab, and the evacuation alarm went off. The lithe one uttered a curse in Romulan.

"They discovered us! They were prepared," he spat, his voice muffled by the ski mask he wore around his face. Even in the face of the situation's seriousness, Karina couldn't help but admire their choice of attire. Very classy, typical criminal.

He appeared to be the leader of the squad. Motioning to the oaf who held her, he said, "I'll take her. You get the man. We'll figure out what to do with him later. The captain will want to speak to her eventually. She lives…for now."

Karina knew struggling was pointless at this point. Cam may have been teaching her some pretty sweet karate moves lately, but she wasn't anywhere near skilled enough to take out a trio of fairly well-muscled men, whether leanly or bulgingly so. Plus, who knew what they would do to Jim if she tried? They had the leverage in this situation. She wouldn't watch them torture or murder her friend.

Of course, there _was_ also the fact that she was tied up.

Her one hope was that Camille and Juliet would follow the crowd, go with the rest of the cadets, and notice hers and Jim's absence. At least Bones would for sure be there and notice all of them missing. Or maybe Sulu would notice Juliet missing –

Karina's brain stopped short. Wait a minute. The one who was taking her from the Hulk here had said something about the captain. Could Stark have something to do with this after all?

Then again, this one's voice had sounded somewhat familiar…

She braced herself for a lot of uncomfortable bouncing as the thugs hauled her and Jim off to wherever it was they were hiding.

Bones set his teeth. Absolutely not. The girl had wounded his pride far too much. He would _not_ go check on Camille Osbourne to make sure she was safely out of the building.

Jim had accused him of being able to hold a grudge until he died. Well, the kid was absolutely right. Bones _could_ hold a grudge until the end of time if he wanted to. Maybe not even then. Then there was Jim, whose grudge-holding ability last about 0.02 seconds. And Camille. Every time he passed her in the corridor, he could feel regret for her harsh words pouring off of her.

Bones stalked past her dorm room, paused, and then shook his head.

"Oh, damn it all," he muttered, turning around and knocking on it. No answer. He poked his head in the door, cautious. He doubted she'd take the time to dress while an evacuation was taking place, but then again, the mysteries of the female race had him baffled on a consistent basis.

"Camille?" he called. Something was off. Her bed was actually made for once. Bones shook his head. _Dammit, Leo, you're overthinking things,_ he thought to himself. _In fact, you're even thinking about overthinking things. Plus, how do you even know her bed isn't normally made? It's basic Camille logic, McCoy. You, man, are being even creepier than Jim. Which is saying something. Am I actually_ answering _myself? I need serious psychological help._

Calming his racing mind, Bones frowned, glaring at himself in the mirror on Camille's dresser, debating his next move. Subconsciously, he knew he had already made his decision, but it was simply a matter of carrying it out.

"Oh, damn it all," he muttered for the second time that night. The girls' door slammed against the wall as he stormed out of their room and toward the weapons lab. He couldn't explain why, he just had a feeling when it came to Camille Osbourne, and he knew that was where she would be.


	20. Chapter 20

**So this one is kind of short, and I apologize for this, but it's been a slightly crazy week, and I haven't really had time to add anything in. Hope you enjoy what's going on with the girls anyway. We get to see a little more of Juliet in this chapter, however. (She'll be important, too, just so's you all know.)**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek, which saddens me to no end.**

When the Romulans had rounded the corner, Camille and Juliet had been waiting for them. Camille took aim and screamed at Juliet, "NOW!"

A five-set of Romulans soon stood scorched in their boots. The girls jumped up and down, cheering. Camille, more of a hugger than Juliet, leaped up and wrapped her arms around the taller girl's neck, exclaiming, "We did it! We did it! We – "

Juliet's slight shock was extinguished, along with the tiny fires smoldering around them, when the sonic sprinklers began going and the fire alarm blared. Camille looked up to the sky and finished, "Dead. We're dead."

Juliet nodded. "Yep. What say we join the throng of normal cadets who didn't just break into the weapons lab and use a highly sensitive weapons system?"

Camille was already halfway out the door. "Waaay ahead of you."

But about two steps out the door, she caught a sight of something in her peripheral vision, heard a muffled sound above the noise. A big figure disappeared around the corner, a body slung over his shoulder. Camille's eyes widened. She was willing to bet these guys had Jim and Karina, judging by the empty transmission lab up ahead. Turning to Juliet, she said, "Do you see that?"

Grimly, Juliet nodded. "That wasn't covered in the plan, was it?"

Camille shook her head. "I'm going after them."

"Not without me, you're not!"

"No, you've got to go get some back-up or something. There's no way we take them out with just two people."

Juliet raised an eyebrow. "Isn't that what we just did?"

"Well, yeah, but we had some massive fire power on our side then, literally. I'll follow them, figure out what they're up to, and you'll just…"

"Get back-up?" Juliet finished for her.

"Trust me. It's an important job. Preferably bring some heavily armed buff guys with phasers set to stun-you-into-next-week. Or a group of women on their periods with phasers set to kill."

"How do you recommend I go about that one?"

"Sarcasm, Jules. Mostly."

"Roger that, Captain," Juliet said, running off toward the horde of evacuating cadets and officers. Camille crept around the corner, her eyes never leaving the trio of black-clad guys who, she could now see, definitely had her friends with them.

Bones frantically scanned the crowd, certain he'd find Camille if he just went against the flow long enough. Where was the blasted girl? He couldn't ever recall being this frustrated with a person that he didn't also inherently hate. Was this…worry? Concern? He'd felt enough of it for her that he should reasonably know by now.

Suddenly, he caught sight of a familiar face. Grabbing her arm, he said, "Juliet. Have you seen Camille lately?"

She nodded. "Actually, about five minutes ago. Right after we blew up some invading Romulans, she went after a group of guys she was pretty sure had Jim and Karina captive and sent me to get some back up. Her exact description was some buff guys with phasers." Juliet appraised him, which he wasn't exactly comfortable with. He knew he had some serious working-out to do, but her appraising look wasn't helping his self-image. He was even more taken aback when she reached out and felt his arm muscles. At least he was fairly well-toned there.

"You'll do," she said. "Although, you might want to pick up a phaser on your way. I'll be getting some more help and follow shortly behind. And just between the pair of us," she said, lowering her voice. "I'd make sure Camille doesn't do anything too rash. She had the crazy eyes when I left her."

Bones snorted. "Yeah, she gets those when it comes to Karina. And yet you left her still."

"Hey, I left to find help! Speaking of, I think we'll need more," Juliet rejoined the surge, scanning for possible candidates. "Good luck, Doctor!"

Bones stalked off, his speed growing steadily as he moved away from the crowd. "Don't let her do anything rash?" he muttered. "I wouldn't dream of it. That is, if she'll let me let her do anything. Stubborn girl."

As he neared the weapons lab, a guard halted his path. "Excuse me, sir, but I really can't – "

Bones sent a swift fist into his jaw. With a groan, the guard dropped. Bones knelt over him and stole his phaser, checked his vitals for good measure, then shrugged. "Sorry. Kind of," he muttered before continuing in the direction Juliet had indicated.

Juliet threw her arms up in the air. No one was believing her. Seriously, what was so difficult to believe about what she told them?

"Is no one crazy enough to believe this?" she exclaimed, generally to the air.

"I might be," came a voice from beside her. She turned and breathed a sigh of relief. If anyone was going to believe her, they were right here.

"Hikaru," she said. "I need your help with something."

He half-smiled. "I got that from your frantic pleas. What exactly with?"

She screwed up her face in concentration. "Well, first we're going to need phasers."


	21. Chapter 21

**Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek, Leonard McCoy, or Jim Kirk. I only own Camille and Karina. And any other non-canonical characters that may or may not show their ugly faces in this chapter. (Once again, saying nothing!)**

 **Enjoy!**

* * *

Camille crept along the corridor. The one holding Jim muttered to the lithe one, who appeared to be his superior, "Hey, this one's really heavy. Anyone want to switch for a while?"

The lithe one whirled, knocking Karina's head against the doorframe. Camille wished for someone to hold her back so she didn't _have_ to exercise self-control, but settled on gritting her teeth and picturing the guy's soft hand flesh between them. Did she scare herself sometimes? Yes. Was this helpful when the guy had obviously just hurt her friend, judging by the cry coming from behind that disgusting-looking piece of cloth in Karina's mouth? As helpful as any solution.

"Oh, shut up," he snapped at Karina. "And you! What can this guy weigh? One-sixty? He isn't exactly fat!"

"Muscle does weigh more than fat, boss," the oaf muttered.

"Quit whining and grow a pair," the skinny one demanded. "Just behind this door and we're home free. No one knows about the tunnels under Starfleet. They were used quite frequently as a safe meeting place when the place was established, but they're barely even remembered anymore."

The thug entered a combination and a door slid open. The group ambled through and the door slid closed. Camille smiled. Well, guess who knows now, buttface? Plus, she'd seen the combo. She was about to book it for the lock, when a vice-like grip wrapped around her arm...

She whirled, placing a solid punch into the owner of the hand's gut. It was only when he doubled over that she recognized him.

"BONES?!"

Rising, pain etched on his face, he growled, "Dammit, woman, what are you doing? I thought those evacuation bells were quite clear!" Having not released his grip on her, he began dragging her along the corridor. She dug her heels in, and cried, "They have Karina and Jim!"

Bones straightened. "They what?"

"Karina and Jim. She was trying to get proof of the Romulan attack and they got nabbed! We have to get them back, Bones! And I'm doing it whether you help me or not!"

He shook his head as though to clear it. "I – I –" Torn between common sense and loyalty to Jim Kirk, he groaned and threw his hand in the air. "Well, of course, I'll help you, Camille. If that's the case. But how do you recommend we get into that fortress?"

She grinned. "I've got the combo."

He stared at her, then smiled, one of those rare genuine smiles from Bones, and shook his head again. "You never cease to amaze me, woman."

Camille went to enter the combination, then paused, her finger poised over the first digit. "You just called me 'woman.'"

Bones' frown returned. "Come again?"

"Twice just now. You called me 'woman,' not 'girl.'"

Bones looked like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar, clearly trying to get out of what he considered an awkward situation. "I did no such thing."

"Yes, you did. You called me 'woman.'"

"I did not."

"In fact, Doctor, I think you'll find you did."

"Dammit, woman!"

"Ah! See, there it was again."

Camille had never seen a man that red before, but with the combination of anger and embarrassment, Bones was nigh on a lighter shade of violet. Smiling to herself, Camille turned to the lock again. Behind her, Bones snorted.

"You could look a little less pleased with yourself, you know, Camille."

Camille did, in fact, sober up, but not for the reason he was intending.

"You're right," she said. As the door slid open, they made their way into the tunnels. Under her breath, Camille muttered, "Who knows what they're doing to them in here."

With the door open, there was a little light afforded to them, but slowly it began to slide shut. The pair of them whirled, but with a small thud, nothing too conspicuous as to draw attention, the door was fastened off, cutting off what little illumination their path had.

In the darkness, so pitch black her eyes couldn't even adjust properly, Camille muttered, "Well, that's just great, isn't it? Now how are we supposed to – "

The tiny beam of light appeared on the cement floor in front of her. Bones had fished a miniature blue flashlight out of his pocket. "Will this do the trick?"

Camille's mouth tipped up in a half-smile. "You're not so bad yourself, Bones."

It gave her no end of delight to see one of the most serious men she'd known outside the military looking like a child who'd just received a golden star on a spelling test. She almost wanted to giggle, but the situation didn't really afford it. Then she realized – he looked way too pleased with himself to have just scored a flashlight. And sure enough, he was still rummaging around in his pocket with his flashlight-free hand.

"You think _that's_ good?" he said, finally finding his object of desire and tossing it to her. She caught it, and saw that it was a small phaser. Nothing firefight worthy, but just intimidating enough that she might just stun a few ruffians with it. He'd also produced one for himself, identical in size.

"I'll be holding the flashlight, so my reaction time won't be nearly as good as it would normally be," he told her. "I'm going to need you to be quick on the punch. Can you do that for me?"

She normally might have been offended by what she would have construed to be doubt, but she didn't find it so today. This wasn't doubt. He innately trusted her, he just wanted to make sure she was okay, that she would be.

Fortunately, he'd chosen the right person to be his partner in crime in this case.

"I spent two years in the military, Bones," she said, readying her phaser. "I think I've got pretty good reflexes at this point in time."

* * *

Karina saw what was coming even before she was dumped, none-too-gently, on the cold cement floor. Even though she'd hit the sore spot on her head from where she'd been rammed into the doorframe, she determined she wouldn't cry out. If she died today, she'd take what little dignity she had left with her.

Jim, on the other hand, made no such attempt, but could she blame the man? He was only half-conscious anyway. Still, his groan as they practically threw him onto the ground sent an ache through her that nearly doubled her over in spite of her determination not to show emotion. She'd dragged him into this, and now the likelihood that either of them would make it out was slowly dwindling.

The one who'd been carrying her removed the filthy sock from her mouth, almost gently, if she dared to believe it. She couldn't resist running tongue over her teeth, just to see if there was any residue of gunk in her mouth. Thank goodness, the disgusting thing hadn't seemed to leave a long-lasting impression.

Looking over at Jim, she saw him haul himself up on his side, working to spit the sock out. His eyes were slightly glazed over, but otherwise he looked unhurt.

"Oh, don't get your jock strap in a wad, Kirk," the guy spat, and his voice, though muffled, still sounded vaguely familiar. He went and yanked the sock out of Jim's mouth. Once again, less concerned with dignity than Karina appeared to be, Jim was clearly trying to get as much of the taste out of his mouth as possible. His feeble attempts seemed to make their captor laugh.

"You might as well stop struggling," he muttered. "By the time I'm done with you, you'll have tasted worse things than week-old sock."

"Leave him out of this," Karina growled. "I think we all know it's me you have issue with here. Jim was unconscious the entire way here, at least until we got into the tunnels. Let him go."

Jim let out a barking laugh, shaking his head. "Not on your life, Kari," he muttered. "We got into this together, we'll get out of it together."

"This is _my_ fight, Jim!"

The thug appeared to be enjoying watching them spar. His head moved back and forth between the pair of them, as though observing a tennis match. But now he threw his head back and laughed.

"Seems the fight's turned slightly in our favor here, Karina," he said. "But go on. Refer to it as yours if you wish."

Karina stared him down, her glare quite terrifying. Later Jim would describe it as she looked as though she was about to suck the guy's soul out.

"Well, considering that only one side will probably emerge from this alive," she growled, "why don't you show me your face, you cowardly snake?"

His back was turned to them at this point, but at that, he stiffened, turning to her, a twisted grin surely showing behind that mask.

"Are you quite sure you want to see what's behind this, _Americana_?"

The blood slowly drained from Karina's face. She looked at Jim, who appeared lost. Steeling her nerves, Karina attempted a brave face. "I think you've basically given yourself away by now, don't you?"

Jim sat there and muttered, "Nope. Not really. Who is this guy, exactly, Kari?"

A dry laugh sounded from behind the mask. "Oh, Karina and I go way back. Don't we?"

He pulled the mask off, and Karina managed the name that had been in the back of her mind ever since they'd been deposited in this cell, however strangled it might have sounded. "Agustin."

"How clever of you, Karina," Agustin said, his voice practically dripping with sarcasm. He paced. "You know, turning on my own men and saving you back there the first time, now that was a risk. But I thought if we could just scare you, you'd turn tail and run like the scared little girl we all thought you were."

"You know, I always knew there was something up with you," Jim growled, struggling against his bonds, looking like he'd like nothing better than to deck the sorry guy across the face. And Karina, though her mind was still reeling, would welcome the sight better than anything else. Well, other than the feel of his jaw breaking under her own fist.

Agustin once again laughed, the sound devoid of humor and only containing sadistic pleasure. "But what I didn't count on was you running to big brother Jim over here and rallying the troops. Clearly you were a lot smarter than I thought you were, Karina. But maybe not as brave." He hauled her to her feet and began dragging her out of the room. "Let's see how well you hold up under my boss's questioning."

Jim began snaking toward the door after them, and Agustin almost closed it. "Oh, don't worry, Kirk. We'll be sending some of our boys along to have some fun with you, too. If it's failing to protect her you're worried about, you won't live long enough to feel the pain too much." He pulled a foot back and kicked Jim in the gut. Jim groaned and curled around the bruised spot, spitting a curse at the boy who'd betrayed them all.

Karina began to struggle for the first time. "NO! JIM!" she screamed as Agustin dragged her away from the cell.

She could hear him call back, "Kari!" just before the heavy metal door slammed in his face.

"JIM!"

* * *

Jim had long ago given up trying to slam his shoulder into the door to open it. The thing was metal, and he was pretty sure his shoulder had already been dislocated and relocated twice. Best be prepared to put up a fight when the torture started. He wasn't going down without at least trying to get Karina out of this –

The door began to slide open. Jim struggled to his feet, backed up against the wall, preparing to use a move that he called "the Bull and Matador." Okay, he'd just come up with it then. But he thought it was pretty brilliant, actually.

Two figures stood in the doorway. One looked to be about his size, the other was remarkably tiny. Well, perhaps the Romulans were down on their recruiting standards. Then again, he'd learned from Camille never to underestimate the toughness of a tiny person. Both figures wore long black robes with hooded cowls. Romulans for sure.

Deciding to go for the one about his size, Jim let out a guttural roar and bent over, head-butting the guy in the stomach. Unfortunately for him, his opponent was prepared. Grabbing him by the shoulders, the figure held him at arm's length, well out of reach of his swinging arms.

"Dammit, man, can't you recognize a rescue attempt when it comes?"

Jim blinked, then looked up. "B-Bones?"

Pulling the hood back, his friend's gray eyes looked down at him like a beacon of hope the color of the storm itself. Jim glanced over at the tiny one. If his suspicions proved correct - ?

Camille removed her own hood, shaking her head. "I think they might have knocked on your head harder than you can afford, Jim."

"Yeah, and thanks to you, Camille, _my_ stomach's received one too many blows today," Bones muttered. "I wasn't about to let you add to that damage, Jim. I still haven't entirely ruled out internal bleeding here."

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Camille muttered. "I didn't hit you that hard."

"Yes. Yes you did."

Jim, while enjoying this banter, was also inclined to pull their attention back to a more important matter. "Um, guys, while this is all very entertaining, Kari?"

Camille's eyes widened, whereas Bones' narrowed grimly.

"Where have they taken her?" Camille asked, hiking her robe up and tucking it into her uniform's skirt. Bones did the same with the waistband of his pants.

Jim turned to the right. "They went this way. At least that's where I saw him take her before the door slammed in my face. Literally."

"Ah, so that explains things," Bones muttered.

"Explains what?"

"The fact that your nose looks like a squashed, rotten tomato."

Jim gingerly felt his nose. There was crusted blood on it. Huh. He hoped that didn't last. It would certainly wreck his chances with the ladies.

"Are we coming or what, boys?" Camille called from ten feet down the tunnel.

Jim turned to Bones. "Is getting her angry a good idea, do you think?"

Bones shrugged. "She may see red or she may channel it into kicking some poor Romulan soul's butt. Your guess is as good as mine."

As the pair of them ran to catch up with Camille, Jim called, "You may want to know: That Agustin kid is a traitor. In fact, he's the ringleader. He's the one who has Kari right now."

Well, he wasn't so sure she wasn't seeing red. But it looked as though channeling it was going to be a result of this news as well. Camille's green eyes clouded with rage and she took off at a faster run. Jim took off after her, Bones close on his heels. But instead of encouraging his pursuit, Bones was shouting the exact opposite of Jim's expectations.

"Whoa, Jim! You probably hit your head at least two times before the door, right? You've got to have a massive concussion and aren't nearly in any condition to attempt any kind of rescue! Leave that to me and Cam and get back to – "

"Not on your life, Bones!" Jim shouted back.

"I'm not kidding, Jim, your vitals are probably way off!"

"Wouldn't be the first time. Haven't you ever been slightly drunk, Bones?"

"Not the point and not even an accurate description."

"So what's with the fancy get-up?"

"Don't change the – "

Camille groaned. "We jumped a pair of Romulan guards a while back. Figured it would be easier to get through security that way, you know? Now stop squabbling, you two! Ideal circumstances would allow you to do your doctoring thing, Bones, but now we have to find Kari!"

Bones cleared his throat. "My…doctoring thing?"

"Oh, shut up."


	22. Chapter 22

**One chapter left after this one! I hope you guys have enjoyed. I'll cover a bit of what my intentions are for this series - and you can also read more about that in my profile - in the next chapter, but for now, sit back, relax, and read! Thanks to all of you who have stuck with Camille and Karina thus far.**

 **Disclaimer: I own nothing but my OCs.**

* * *

As soon as he cut her bonds loose, Karina hauled off and slapped Agustin across the face. He huffed and rubbed the spot. Her nails had scratched him just slightly, and a few furrows on his cheek began to show slight spots of blood. Good. She'd at least leave a mark for a few weeks. A reminder of what he'd done.

She bit back her frustration. Cam had been right! The guy was a creep, and this entire time she'd thought he'd been her friend. She'd assumed it was Captain Stark. Although with all of these cloaked people around, she hadn't entirely voted her instructor out of the equation. Her first crush – and likely her last at this point – had turned out to be a complete and total jerk. She didn't care that Cam had told her that would be likely, it still stung that her judgment of character was not slightly better.

The rose-colored glasses Karina had been wearing about the world that had been hanging by a single side had now fallen off, smashing on the floor, and she blamed Agustin entirely.

Karina could tell by his face that he would be _so_ choked up about that fact. She glared at him, staring him down. His arrogance was beginning to show through. Had she actually once called that Spanish swagger, dismissing it for what it really was? What a little fool she'd been. Never again would she fall for the charm before examining who came with it.

But he might not give her the chance to redeem herself in that area.

"Still like what you see, Karina?" he muttered. "I could potentially…arrange a deal with my employer. I wouldn't be entirely averse to us having a bit of a Bonnie-and-Clyde thing."

Karina's glare remained. "Are you still not feeling that slap? I'd rather be Bonnie-and-Clyde with a pig."

His expression mirrored her own. "That can be arranged, _senorita_." Dragging her toward the holodeck, he said, "But first my employer would like a word with you."

She laid a kick into his shins. Doubling over in pain, Agustin groaned, and Karina was pleased to see a bit of water in his eyes. She ran for the door, only to feel him grab her around the waist and start hauling her back. Clawing at his hands, she let out several bloodcurdling screams. A hard blow to the back of her head left her ears ringing. She just barely thought she could hear two different voices calling her name. Agustin dropped her and she felt her body slam against the hard, cold metal of the holodeck.

She opened her eyes just in time to see Jim haul Agustin to his feet by the shirt collar and deck him a solid one.

"Oh, I was hoping that would happen," she forced out, and felt a pair of hands grab her by the shoulders.

"Kari?" Cam was practically shouting. "Kari, are you okay? Did that jerk hurt you? Kari, answer me!"

"Cam, Cam, I'm fine," Karina muttered, still staring at Jim, who was still punching Agustin's lights out. "But you're being really freaking loud."

Camille lowered her voice, looking sheepish. "Sorry about that."

Agustin seemed to recover his wits and grabbed his phaser from its holster. Kicking Jim in the stomach, he locked aim on him – and was immediately stunned by Bones.

"No thanks," Bones said. "I'd prefer to get out of this with as few casualties as possible. And this is showing out to be one of the more exhausting all-nighters I'll be pulling."

" _All of you, stop_!"

Karina stopped cold. "Guys, that's Romulan…"

The four cadets whirled to find a group of Romulans standing there with…

"No," Camille muttered. "It's not possible, we – "

…the new weapons system.

" _I invite you to take a look at where you're standing_ ," the leader said as Karina hurriedly translated, gesturing to the ground beneath their feet. Or rather, the holodeck. " _You're on shaky ground, human scum. And our commander is not a forgiving man_." He reached over and began to power the warp-drive up –

And was promptly knocked out by someone from behind. Juliet stood there, looking entirely too pleased with yourself. Sulu was standing behind her, a phaser in one hand and a couple of extras for Jim and Karina in the other.

He tossed them through the air, over the Romulans' heads. Jim attempted to catch them both, but, his normal hand-eye coordination slightly off, he missed by marvelous proportions. Karina, however, was quicker on the punch. Snatching both of them out of the air, she handed Jim one and he whirled just in time to stun a Romulan who was leaping at him.

Karina stared at Camille and Bones, suddenly registering what they were wearing. "What's with the robes?"

Camille rolled her eyes and stunned one who was about to tackle Bones to the ground. "Long story, Kar. And meanwhile, DUCK!"

Karina obliged as Camille's phaser blast flew through the air above her head. She rolled, ignoring the pain shooting through her cranium, and ended up back to back with Jim. Calling over her shoulder, "If we get out of this, Jim, you officially have to approve any guy I'm ever interested in, okay?"

"Am I allowed to consult Bones?" he asked, dodging a Romulan's killing dart and pulling her out of the way as well.

"Why not?" Karina replied. "I'll call the pair of you my bodyguards, what do you say?"

"Eh. I'm okay with it. I prefer big brother status," Jim admitted.

Karina smiled. "Well, if I wasn't in the middle of a firefight, I'd be touched by that."

Camille and Bones, meanwhile, stood back-to-back with Sulu and Juliet.

Camille fired off into the crowd of Romulans approaching them and turned around to face her friend. "Juliet Harper, you crazy woman! How in heaven's name did you - ?"

Juliet laughed. "Turns out the attack was just a ploy. They intended to have us think the threat was past and then steal the weapons systems. Please. Like we didn't see right through that."

Sulu cleared his throat. "Technically, _I_ saw right through that one, Jules." He then hit a Romulan with a phaser blast to the head without even looking in that direction. Camille's jaw dropped. Bones, seeing her reaction, decided to do Sulu one better and took out two Romulans at once. Camille's jaw snapped shut. Smug, Bones returned to the battle, his amount of impressing done.

Camille elected to not ask just yet about exactly _how_ Sulu had figured the Romulan plot out. Survival seemed the more important priority right now.

Karina and Jim joined the circle. A stunning blow struck Camille's shoulder and with a cry, she went down.

"Cam!" Both Karina and Bones were at her side instantly. She waved them off.

"I'm fine, I'm fine. Get back to the fight!" Suddenly her eyes widened. Bones, who hadn't quite left her yet, followed her line of vision and his eyes narrowed. "What mad, harebrained scheme do you have in mind now, woman?"

She merely grinned. "Cover me!"

Taking off running, the pair of them climbed the stairs that rested on the side of the room. They were probably leftover from the earlier days of space travel, when it was NASA pushing the limits of the galaxy instead of Starfleet - extremely primitive limit pushing, but pushing nonetheless. Just before, from the looks of it. They would have still been using rockets instead of the first prototype of the modern starship.

Camille had grabbed a length of chain on the way up, and now she fastened it around her waist. Bones saw her plan and began shaking his head. " _Hell_ no. In fact, hell will freeze over before – "

She put a placating hand on his arm, and then decided to do him one better. "Bones," she said firmly, putting a hand on his shoulder and using it to propel herself upward so she could reach his cheek. Making sure she was as far away from his mouth as possible, she kissed him on the cheek. He looked momentarily dumbfounded, then his eyes cleared. He'd comply.

"I was born to fly, remember?" she asked. He nodded, his eyes fixed firmly on the beam she was intending to swing from.

"Cam," he said. "There's no way you can make that – "

"Of course I can't," she said. "How's your throwing arm?"

He stared at the hook on the chain. Sighing in resignation, he said, "If there's any indication it won't hold – "

"I'll just carry out my plan from up here, then, won't I?" she asked. He stared at her. This woman was crazy. But fortunately, he thought he could use a little healthy crazy right then.

He took the chain and began to swing it like a grappling hook. "Cover me," he said, the irony evident in his voice.

She grinned, knowing she had won this round. "Gladly," she said.

Bones made contact with the beam, then tugged, personally making sure that it was secure. Upon realizing it was, he turned to Camille.

"Whatever you're going to do here, do it quickly before I pull you back entirely."

Below, their friends were valiantly holding their own, but they wouldn't last long. Jim pulled Juliet down just before a stream of death hit her squarely between the eyes. Karina, meanwhile, was performing some kind of acrobatic move, rather like a backbend, to shoot down a Romulan who had leaped at Sulu. Cam's eyes widened. She wasn't aware that her friend was flexible enough to pull such a stunt.

One thing the Romulans who kept pouring in were not expecting was an aerial pursuit. Camille grinned at Bones as she mounted the railing. "Let's hope my dad was right, huh?"

She stared out at the ground below. Bones had made absolutely certain that the chain would hold, but still, a cold bit of fear clawed at her chest. She sat there for a moment, Bones staring at her. She glanced back at him.

"Bones, do me a favor here?"

"What now, woman?"

"Push me."

"Are you insane - ?" Bones looked at the distance she would fall, and back at her. "Cam, I can't push you. I…"

It wasn't a matter of whether he could push her, she knew. It was a matter of whether he could bring himself to send her swinging above the battle.

She grabbed his hands, put them on either side of her waist, and began to coach him. "Just picture it like a huge swing above a fifty-foot drop. I'm holding on. It'll be a bit of a catch for me once I hit my stride, but then maybe I'll take a Romulan or two out. I'll mow them all down. Are we clear?"

He nodded wordlessly, swallowing, the blood draining from his face. Just before he pushed her, she leaned back and whispered, "Born to fly, Bones. Born to fly."

And then he pushed. Camille felt the rush of the wind, the impact as she reached the final depth of her swing, and locked aim on the Romulans entering the room, about to activate the warp drive and send her friends to some unknown place.

She could hardly believe her luck when that was the last wave of Romulans entering the room. Breathing a sigh of relief, she began to undo her chains. She'd been beginning to believe that they'd been breeding in the tunnels under Starfleet for centuries.

Suddenly that sigh of relief caught in her throat. She leaned her forehead against the chain, attempting to draw in breath normally. From some distant place, she heard someone, possibly Karina, calling her name. But she couldn't draw in any further breath. The unconsciousness came swift, and she fell back. Rather than the chain catching her, however, a very familiar pair of arms came around her.

 _Bones_ …she thought, right before she passed out.

* * *

She'd looked glorious, swinging above the scene like that. He'd almost fallen prey to the Romulans who had followed them up the stairs, watching her soar through the air, her dark hair flying along with her robe. It was very true, he realized. Camille Osbourne was born to fly.

But he'd also recognized the signs as soon as she came to a stop. She was having an attack right here, right now, in the middle of a firefight.

Fortunately, Camille had managed to take out a whole battalion of them, that amazing woman. Jim currently had one in a headlock and was about to give him a blow to the jaw while Sulu had his weapon trained on another. Juliet was nursing a wound much like the one Camille had received, but more severe. Karina, however, was fully focused on Camille as well, just as Bones was.

"Jim!" Bones called. Jim, seeing the predicament, gave his captive one last punch to the face then sent him sprawling. He and Karina both hurried over, while Sulu stunned his Romulan and ran to Juliet's side.

Bones grabbed Camille so she wasn't hanging by the chain alone. Her head lolled onto his shoulder, and he experienced a wave of panic. They were so far from the clinic and the steam they so desperately needed to clear her lungs. Jim began working at the chain, which had been relatively easy for Camille to get worked around her waist but was slightly more difficult to get undone. Karina was by Bones' side, whispering things to Camille, mostly that everything was going to be okay and that she needed to breathe.

Bones silently cursed whatever charlatan had given her that medicine in the first place, then abandoned all pretense and cursed them out loud. His profanities rose along with Karina's now demands that her friend breathe.

"Come on, Cam!" she screamed, "You're not allowed to just leave us like this, not when we just got you! You hear me! I didn't just survive being kidnapped and beaten around and then find myself in the middle of a firefight and you didn't just stop that fight single-handedly for this! This isn't how it ends, you hear me? Now _breathe_!"

She then caught a glimpse of Bones' face. Was it…wet? She supposed it could have been sweat, but by the way it was contorted, as though he were in pain…

Karina had known the situation was bad, but the realization that Bones was actually crying made it even direr in her eyes.

Suddenly a sucking noise emitted from Camille. Jim, who had finally gotten the chain untied from around her waist, stared at her, then cried out, "She's breathing, Bones! It's making it past her air pipe! She's breathing!"

Karina let out a strangled cry of relief, and Bones could do nothing but stand there and laugh. Sulu, who was trying to help Juliet walk in spite of her insistence that her legs were fine and it was her arm that was hurt, turned to them.

"Maybe getting her to the clinic is still a good idea, Doctor?"

Bones adjusted her in his arms and said, "Yeah, I think it would be, Sulu." And with that he was, once again, running for the exit.

Jim turned to Karina. "You know, I can carry you, too, if need be."

Karina gave him a look. "Have you seen yourself lately?"

"Well, sweetheart, you aren't exactly looking like Miss United States!"

She rolled her eyes. "Thanks for that." With that, Jim unexpectedly slumped to the ground. Karina repeated the gesture. "Just as I thought. Hey, Sulu, can you give me a hand here?"

Juliet waved him onward. "I can walk, Hikaru. Seriously. Help Karina. There's no way she'll be able to haul Jim on her own."

Karina debated whether she should take that as an insult, then shrugged. She supposed bluntness was just Juliet's way, and let's face it, she couldn't get Jim there on her own. Sulu eased himself under Jim's right arm, Karina under his left, and they made their way toward the exit, hoping that Camille had continued to breathe properly.

* * *

Camille blinked her eyes open. She found Karina sacked out in a chair next to her bedside, and Jim in a bed next to her.

"I don't understand why she's allowed to sleep and I'm not!"

"Because, Jim, you're suffering from a concussion. A complex one, at that. You got beaten up pretty badly. Now stay down or so help me, I will make you stay down!"

Jim stared at him. "Picked up a thing or two that first shuttle ride to Riverside, didn't you?"

Bones shrugged. "Lady had a way about her. Emulating it doesn't really seem like a bad idea."

He turned to Camille. "Well, I see you're up," he said, all business. Camille bit back a comment of frustration. She'd rather hoped to see the bantering Bones, not Dr. McCoy. But then again, Dr. McCoy did have a certain air about him that she rather liked. It was then that she realized _all_ of it was Bones, all a part of who he was, and she enjoyed it all.

He nodded to Karina. "She's fine, by the way," he said. "All checked over and released. So naturally, she hasn't left your side." A corner of his mouth tipped up. "I'd keep that one."

Camille looked over at Karina, her head tilted onto the back of the chair and a serene expression on her face, one Camille hadn't seen since before this incident with the Romulans, and she was filled with a surge of affection for her sister-friend. She turned back to Bones. "I intend to keep her, trust me."

Bones did that half-grin thing. "As for you, Camille, this was the first time you've been able to pull out of an attack on your own. Hell, I didn't even have time to do anything, you were that fast. I mean, I still put you on the steam when we got back, just in case there was any further blockage, but by the time we reached the clinic, you were breathing on your own just fine."

Camille stared at him. "So you're saying…?"

"I think you're out of the woods. And I can say that confidently now. I didn't know for sure last time, but here we are. As long as you're close by for monitoring, I think you're good. And I understand that last one has you scared, but I swear, had I known you could pull through on your own – "

Camille held up a hand to stop him. "I reacted foolishly to that last one, Bones." She breathed in a huge breath. Admitting this was not easy for her, but she'd rather admit she was wrong than lose her friendship with Bones. "I was wrong, and I apologize for any contention between us because of it. Can we just…shake hands and agree to be friends again?"

He smiled and held his hand out. "Consider it done."

A knock came at the clinic door. It was Captain Pike, but he took one look at Karina's sleeping form and went to back out. "Maybe I should come back later?"

Bones shook his head. "I could wake her up for you, sir."

Pike mirrored the gesture. "No, there's no need for that, McCoy. But this message is actually for the four of you. I need to speak with you all in my office as soon as possible. So once the patients are able to walk around on their own, I expect to see you all."

The three who were awake nodded, Jim barely lucid. He just stared at Pike blankly. Pike muttered under his breath to Bones, "Make sure they're clear-minded, too."

And with that, he was gone.

Bones shrugged. "You two should be good by tomorrow. But speaking of, I haven't slept in twenty-four hours, and I think Karina should get back to her own bed, maybe?"

Camille nodded. Bones went and nudged Karina awake. "Hey, we're going to bed now. Come on, kid."

Bleary-eyed, not even noticing Camille's awakened state, Karina shuffled out the door and back toward their room. Bones looked at both of them and said, "See you two tomorrow before our meeting, huh?"

Camille nodded. "Good night, Bones."

He looked off after Karina. "Better go catch her and let her know."


	23. Chapter 23

**Author's note will be at the end of the chapter.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own Star Trek.**

* * *

"I hope the four of you know that Starfleet is not ignorant what you have done for the Academy," Pike began. "If not for you, we might be nothing but a hole in the ground. However, there is the small matter of how we're to honor you."

Jim frowned, not quite comprehending. "Honor us, sir?"

"Well, naturally, Admiral Marcus and all the superiors would like to honor you for the act of valor. So would I, and I'd like to do so publicly. However, Marcus feels that would be unwise, his reasons for which he hasn't deigned to tell me. I'm afraid that means all I can do is give you a private commendation."

Karina nodded, and though she was the youngest, felt it was okay for her to speak on behalf of the whole group. "That is perfectly understandable, sir. We don't need any honors for what we've done. It's just a pleasure to serve the Academy."

Bones stared at her. Either this girl was the best liar ever or she truly didn't expect any commendation for what she'd done. In either case, he wanted to commend her himself for the grace with which she handled being told that risking her life apparently wasn't worth the effort it would take to recognize her for it.

"No one ever said you wouldn't be rewarded, Cadet Bartowski," Pike said, a smile tipping the right corner of his mouth.

All four of them must have been truly confounded at this point, because they said simultaneously, "Sir?"

He leaned forward. "We just put the finishing touches on a new starship. Once she's fully ready to fly, we'll be calling her _Enterprise_. They've already named me Captain. Now, in most situations, cadet placement on a ship is based on random selection. But it _is_ somewhat up to the Captain, provided there is no nepotism or other kind of favoring involved. In this situation, I'm granted choice of most of my bridge crew, as well as my medical crew."

Recognition slowly dawned on all of their faces as they understood what he was saying. He smiled at their expressions. "You understand that being assigned to the newest and most technologically advanced ship in the fleet is one of the highest honors we can give, even with a public ceremony?"

The older three nodded wordlessly, and Karina squeaked out, "Yes, sir."

"Now, this doesn't necessarily mean you'll be head of your field of study, but, given time and further promotions, that may change." He stood and shook each of their hands in turn. "Congratulations, cadets. I look forward to working with you in the future."

As they were about to leave, he said, "Cadet Bartowski, I'd like you to stay a moment."

She turned around, her face pale. "Yes, sir?"

"I would like to personally apologize for the way you were treated at the hands of our officers," he said. "And for not personally looking into the matter myself. Your slate is completely clear. And we'll be reassigning Captain Stark to something more suited to his demeanor. Such as early retirement."

Karina suppressed a laugh. That shouldn't make her feel so good. But it really did.

"You'll be getting a new instructor for the remainder of the year and for next term. One of our more distinguished graduates. Grew up on Vulcan, the son of their ambassador to Earth and a human. Name's Spock. I'm warning you, Cadet, because while he may be a bit fairer than Stark would have been, he isn't the easiest of people to work with. Vulcans are…well, let's say I can see you taking some issue with the way he runs things."

Karina nodded. "So I should keep the boat rocking to a minimum, is that what you're saying, sir?"

"Knew you were an intelligent kid," Pike said. "Dismissed, Cadet Bartowski."

As she was turning to leave, he muttered, "Got my officer recruit, my medical, my weapons, my xenolinguistics. Now I just have to pick my first officer, my pilot, my navigator, and my engineer… You know anyone in the navigation department, Cadet?"

She frowned. "Not that I can recall, sir. Haven't had the pleasure."

"Huh. Think I'll take Olson as the engineer. He's pretty well qualified. Other than that…"

Karina, having been dismissed, figured it wouldn't be too rude of her to slip out while Pike was in the middle of his mumblings. After that, she was practically skipping down the corridor. She got to spend her first commission in Starfleet with her three best friends so far. Nothing could possibly make this day any better –

This time she full-on rammed into her victim. Mentally cursing her clumsiness, Karina disentangled herself from him, hurriedly offering apologies and running off down the hallway to celebrate with the others. How was it that she never ran into women – and she never got a good look at the guys she ran into? Maybe she was missing out on –

Karina shook her head to clear it. Absolutely not. She wasn't going there. Not after she'd so easily given her heart away last time. For all she knew, the next guy she ended up liking would probably be a Klingon in disguise.

Once again, she was unaware of the boy she'd run into pausing for a few minutes. Like he was catching his breath or something, passerby might have described it. Little did they know how close they were to the truth.

* * *

"Tiberius," came Jim's voice from the corridor.

Bones looked up and gave a cry of surprise, hurriedly stuffing himself into some pants.

"James Tiberius Kirk. Just in case you were looking for baby names. Oh, and I fully expect to be named godfather."

Bones glared at him. "Dammit, man! You can't just walk in on a man when he's changing!"

"Well, maybe a man should consider locking his door beforehand. Nice underwear, by the way," Jim muttered, coming in and making himself at home.

"What are you talking about, anyway?" Bones asked. "Why would I be searching for baby names?"

"Well, I'm not saying now, Bones," Jim replied. "I'm just saying, in time…"

"I thought we were done with this, Jim," Bones groaned. "Should I say it slower this time?"

"Say what?"

"There. Is. Nothing. Between. Camille. And. I. I'm done with women."

"And I thought you were done with that!" Jim flopped down on the bed. Funny how Bones' roommate was never in. "Come on, Bones. I don't know the whole of what your ex-wife did to you. Quite frankly, considering the fact that she almost murdered you, I really don't want to know. Whatever happened in your past, doesn't matter to me. If you want to move forward with your life, great. But whatever happened in your past, what has not been significant proof to you that Camille Osbourne is different from other women? Because I'm pretty sure that girl is a gem. And you're missing out."

Long after Jim left, Bones lay there, contemplating what he said.

* * *

"Louise," Karina said.

Camille sat up on her bed and stared at her friend. "Come again?"

"It's Karina Louise Bartowski. If you're looking for baby names sometime in the near future."

Camille sat there staring at her and laughed. "What, with Bones?"

"I'm not saying now…"

"Honey, I think your predicament might be a bit direr in the area of men than mine. What with the guys you apparently go for being involved in intergalactic conspiracies and such."

Karina flopped down on the bed. "You know, you are remarkably good at turning the subject around. But I'll bite. Don't remind me. I think I'm done with guys, for a long while."

Camille looked at her for a while. "You know, you're fourteen. If that's the decision you want to make, I won't push you. But I also would advise you: Don't sell every guy short. Not every male you meet is going to be involved in some illicit plot."

Karina nodded. "You know, I'm not all that tired. Do you want to go do something?"

Camille rose up off her bed. "You read my mind."

"Any ideas?" Karina asked. "I'm completely drawing a blank."

"We're a pair of girls in San Francisco. I'm sure we can find something to do."

"Wait, wait, wait!" Karina frowned, suddenly concerned about letting her friend have the liberty to choose this one. "Nothing illegal, right?"

"I would sincerely hope not."

"Nothing even vaguely close to getting us killed?"

"Kari! Will you just breathe? I think we've both had enough 'almost getting killed' to last a lifetime!" Camille paused and reconsidered the matter. "Then again, we _are_ in Starfleet. Maybe I should find that last statement a bit more concerning than I do."

Karina shrugged. "When you put it that way, roaming around downtown looking for something to do seems relatively tame. Let's do it."

Camille went to throw on something other than her uniform, and, pausing to look at herself in the mirror, took a deep breath in, letting the air flow effortlessly over her lungs. Out again, with no hitch whatsoever. Life was going to go on, hopefully for a very long time.

Her thoughts briefly straying to Bones, she smiled. She couldn't wait to see where life would take her.

* * *

 **And that is the end of _Breathe!_ Thank you so much to those of you who have stuck with our girls to the last. But wait...nobody panic! It's not really the end. **

**A week from Friday, I will be posting the first chapter of the next part of this series, _Echoes of the Past._ In this, we'll see a bit more of Karina's...well, past, a few more familiar faces, and LOTS more of Camille and Bones! (Plus, there are some lovely Jim moments, as well.) This Friday, however, I will update this one more time, to post a preview of _Echoes of the Past._ Please know that it is giving me great pleasure to contemplate which tidbit to tease your little minds with! (I know. I'm evil.) **

**Next Monday, I will posting the first of a series of one-shots related to this story. Hope you all come back and read!**

 **If you enjoyed this story and want more, don't worry. Trust me, there will be much more down the road! :)**

 **~browneyedgirl29**


	24. Preview of Echoes of the Past

**Preview is up! It was a bit of a struggle to decide what to tease you guys with, which part of the plot to allude to, and so on, but let's face it: This one was calling me. Also, I had some help deciding from my wonderful roommate. Let me know what you guys think...and I'll see you for Echoes of the Past in a week!**

* * *

"You asked to see me, sir?" she said, hoping her voice didn't sound as small as it felt.

"Yes," he said. It sounded as though he was thinking, wondering where he should begin. Karina felt cold sweat start to break out under her uniform and bit back frustration.

"I won't beat around the bush here, Cadet," he said. "You're a bright kid. Only fifteen and already one of the top xenolinguistics recruits we have. You've improved since you came to us last year, and you were already stellar. And on top of that, you stopped an invasion in its tracks."

"I had help, sir," she interjected. He smiled and nodded, and she felt herself begin to breathe again. Humility was always a good policy in these situations.

"That you did," he said. "And you know it's my desire to have you serve under me on the _Enterprise_. But as I said in my message, a slight complication has arisen."

Karina felt her heart drop to her stomach. So that was it. She'd been right.

"Starfleet protocol mandates that we give the top cadets in their field the right to pick which ship they serve on. And while you are one of our best…you're not quite at the top. Our top xenolinguistics cadet has requested a position on the _Enterprise_. For confidentiality purposes, I can't disclose their name, only that they are trained for the exact same job as you, Bartowski."

Karina nodded, fighting back the emotion that threatened. "I understand, sir. And I fully accept your decision – "

"I wasn't quite finished, Cadet."

She stopped short, nodded and let him continue. But he didn't continue. He merely looked her up and down, as though deciding whether what he was about to say was a good idea. He was silent for so long she nearly jumped out of her skin when he spoke again.

"How is your Russian, Cadet Bartowski?"

Karina stared at him for a good fifteen seconds before finally replying, "My…Russian, Captain?"


End file.
